Rob Key backs Brendon McCullum to remain as England head coach despite Ashes defeat

Rob Key insists Brendon McCullum is the best man to continue leading England but admits he does not know what the ECB have planned in the wake of their abject Ashes defeat.

A tour hyped as a legacy-defining project has descended into a familiar bout of soul‑searching for the English game after three consecutive defeats in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.

The urn may already be gone, but with two Tests still to play - starting with the Boxing Day match in Melbourne - England still have a chance to salvage some pride.

Failure to do so could put jobs, including Key's role as managing director of men's cricket, on the line. McCullum has already signalled his desire to stay on, and Key, who appointed him as Test coach in 2022, remains firmly in his corner.

"Brendon is an outstanding coach," Key told the Sky Sports Cricket podcast. "A lot of this is our fault. It has always been about putting bowlers under pressure, soaking up pressure, but we have not done that well enough, whether against India in the summer or now.

"Brendon's record as a coach is excellent. When you compare him to other coaches, we haven't won the big series, but will we have to evolve, adapt, change and become better at all these things we are talking about? Of course we will.

"Do I think he's the man to do that? If he's as prepared as I am to do it, he is the right man. Brendon is a resilient character. There is nothing I've seen from him that suggests he doesn't want to.

"When you get these tours, when you're losing in Australia in an Ashes series, half the team don't like the captain and the other half don't like the coach - that's not happening at all on this trip. They have kept the players together remarkably well considering everything that has gone on. But will we have to evolve? Absolutely."

With the four‑year Ashes cycle used as the barometer for England's success and progress, Key conceded that a series whitewash in Australia could leave the ECB with no option but to undergo a root‑and‑branch review - one that no one, not even himself, would be immune from.

"Without question, that is what happens with these things," he added. "The decision for the England and Wales Cricket Board [ECB] is exactly that: whether to rip things up and start again. It happens in politics, where you go one way and then the other.

"We as a management group have to get better and evolve, and they have to decide if we're the right people for that.

"What I would say, in Brendon [McCullum] and Ben's [Stokes] case, is that they have been very good. If you look at everything they have done under the most intense scrutiny over the last three or four years, they have done brilliant things for English cricket.

"As long as they're prepared to evolve, they should stay in it - and the ECB can decide what they want to do with me."

While a wider assessment of where it went wrong for England will surely follow in the new year, Key has already identified some errors.

He acknowledged that the preparation period for such a big series - which included a white‑ball trip to New Zealand and only one intra‑squad warm‑up match at a club ground - was inadequate.

"There is a difference between planning and getting it wrong," Key said. "The idea that we didn't care about preparation is not true. Clearly it didn't work, so it's hard to argue it was right, but I'll explain the reasons.

"We had a T20 and white‑ball series in New Zealand, and it was very important that everyone knew what team this was, what we were about, how we prepared - that nothing was different and we would prepare just as we would anywhere. But it didn't work.

"We went to Lilac Hill knowing the conditions weren't going to replicate what we'd face, but there is nowhere other than the WACA or Optus Stadium that can replicate those conditions. That was the thinking behind it. We felt it would be sufficient to be ready for that Test match, but it didn't work."

England also received criticism for a break in Noosa between the second and third Tests, with claims it resembled a "stag-do" with excessive drinking, Key says he does not believe there is a drinking culture within the group, but admits it would be unacceptable if things did reach that point.

"We live in a world where you pick up your phone and every single day there is something about cricket on there," he said. "I think it is so important for these players to get away from the scrutiny and spotlight. That was the whole plan with the Noosa trip - so they could get away, throw their phones in the bin and not be inundated.

"But it is a fine balance, and if it looks like that's ended up as a jolly and a stag‑do, that is unacceptable. I don't like a drinking culture; I don't drink much myself, if at all."

Pressed on whether he was confident there was no drinking culture within the England squad, Key replied: "We have put extra security in and made it pretty clear the lads weren't to be out all the time getting hammered. So far, from what I've seen, that wasn't the case - but it is unacceptable if it was."

Australia lead five-match series 3-0