Hampshire Director of Cricket Outlines What Counties Expect from Brendon McCullum

England men's cricket team head coach Brendon McCullum's retention in his job comes with a strong condition. He has been told to improve relations with the counties by the England and Wales Cricket Board, as some of them felt marginalised by his approach to player selection.

As of 2025-26, Surrey, Durham, Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire and Lancashire are heavily on the supply line for the international team across formats. Other counties, such as Hampshire, Sussex, Warwickshire and Kent, have one or two players in the national side.

On Tuesday, McCullum will meet all 18 directors of cricket of the English counties, albeit virtually, to bridge the communication gap, as reported in the press, and create a structure that may help select better talent.

STRONGER COUNTY ENGAGEMENT

Despite strong participation from Surrey, with its players being in both England red and white-ball teams, head coach Gareth Batty raised concerns over the communication between the ECB and the county last week. 

Sussex supremo Paul Farbrace and Northamptonshire head coach Darren Lehmann also joined the chorus.

Lehmann cited the example of left-handed batter Saif Zaib, who was overlooked for the England Lions' winter tour despite piling 1,425 runs with six centuries at an average of 65 last season, and added that he hadn't seen any selector at the county games during his first year in charge.

Giles White, the director of cricket at Hampshire, said the counties, whose players aren't part of England, are worried by the lack of engagement or communication from the top brass, although it isn't the same for Hampshire. 

"We felt the communication has been good from England managing director, Rob Key, and the people in position, who have been working with our players. We have a few players in the England setup, such as Liam Dawson with a central contract, and three young bowlers in the development programme," he told Sportsboom.co.uk on Tuesday ahead of the meeting.

"The concern around some of the county setups is that if you don’t have players within the England setup, you don’t hear from the ECB. We as a county didn’t go through that since we have had players involved. It is more of a broad communication that will be talked about in the meeting and how we might connect all the 18 counties with the England setup," White added in this exclusive interview. 

EXPERIENCE WITH PREVIOUS COACHES

White agreed that they hadn't seen much of McCullum, even though Key had been a good communicator. The meeting with the New Zealander could be the start of something new. 

"We don’t see much of Brendon. He is very much a coach who works with the top end," said White.

McCullum will provide clarity regarding the county-ECB relationship in the meeting. "He will highlight his expectations and what he is looking forward to from the players. We will have a clear idea of what England is looking for and how we might assess that and improve any communication gaps. We can hopefully build a system where the counties align with the governing body," he added.

During his tenure as director of cricket at Hampshire since 2008, White could only recall Andy Flower being proactive in communicating with the counties. The Zimbabwean was in charge from 2009 to 2014.

"The head coaches have rarely communicated directly with counties. From my memory, Flower was strong at communicating with the counties when he was head coach. It varies from county to county, and it depends on which players are involved with the England team. If you have players involved in the England setup, you are likely to have more communication than those who don’t," White signed off.

A look at England's Ashes squad for the tour of Australia last year underlines which county rules the international roster: Ben Stokes (Durham), Jofra Archer (Sussex), Gus Atkinson (Surrey), Shoaib Bashir (then, Somerset), Jacob Bethell (Warwickshire), Harry Brook (Yorkshire), Brydon Carse (Durham), Zak Crawley (Kent), Ben Duckett (Nottinghamshire), Will Jacks (Surrey), Ollie Pope (Surrey), Matthew Potts (Durham), Joe Root (Yorkshire), Jamie Smith (Surrey), Josh Tongue (Nottinghamshire), Mark Wood (Durham).