England players who could be shown the Test exit door [Source: AFP]
It is official: Brendon McCullum has been sacked by the ECB as England’s Test head coach following a shambolic home series defeat against New Zealand. Under McCullum, the red-ball side regressed in the last 2 years, and the Three Lions also crumbled under pressure in The Ashes.
The Kiwi legend had his own set of ideas and philosophies, and whoever replaces him will bring in his expertise and vision. Now that England are probably moving on from the Bazball approach, several Test players could be under the firing line, and here are the England players who could be shown the exit door.
1) Ben Duckett
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of McCullum becoming the England coach was the left-handed batter, Ben Duckett. He was nowhere near the Test scheme of things before McCullum’s arrival, but once the Kiwi legend was onboarded, he needed a pioneer to start the “Bazball” revolution, and Duckett was the perfect player.
Duckett played an ultra-aggressive game, and often he took the match away from the opponent in the blink of an eye. While everything went smoothly for the first few years, soon Duckett was accused of throwing away his wicket in the name of aggressive batting.
Criterion
2025
2026
Matches
10
4
Runs
735
315
Average
40.83
39.38
Strike rate
88.24
88.48
50s/100s
3/2
0/1
(Ben Duckett Test stats since 2025)
In 2025, Duckett played 10 matches and scored only 735 runs, with an average of 40. Surely his strike rate was good, but in Tests, the average counts more and holds more value.
He has scored runs on flat English wickets, but the southpaw failed in his biggest litmus test during the 2025-26 Ashes.
In five Tests, he only scored 202 runs, with an average of just 20.20. On tricky wickets, he failed to deliver the goods, and England could perhaps do with a better technically sound opener instead of Duckett, someone who values his wicket more.
2) Jamie Smith
Another product of McCullum’s Bazball approach, Jamie Smith has been an aggressive middle-order batter, but he lacks game awareness when things get tough.
He was touted to be England’s wicket-keeper replacement for Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes, and the player actually had a solid start to his Test career before it went downhill.
The aggressive right-handed batter had a mediocre home series against the Kiwis, averaging just 28.83. Moreover, in 2025, he did score runs but was largely inconsistent.
Just like Duckett, he failed in tricky Australian conditions, scoring just 211 runs, with an average of 23.44.
Maybe the Three Lions need to go back to their old ways and find a keeper who could hold the fort with his brickwall technique.
3) Jacob Bethell
Having talent is one thing, and justifying it on the field is a completely different thing. Jacob Bethell is an excellent white-ball player and should be persisted in those formats, but in Tests, he seems to be unsure about what he wants to do.
Unlike the above two names mentioned, Bethell does have a century in Australia, but he, too, has been inconsistent in red-ball cricket, and the stats reveal the reality.
Criterion
Data
Matches
9
Runs
579
Average
34.05
50s/100s
4/1
(Bethell stats in Tests)
The left-handed batter has played a couple of marvellous Test innings, but the stats reveal that he still averages a mere 34, and this is after playing four Tests in England, where the wickets have suited the batters in recent years.
Maybe England should keep him as a backup, but for that number 3 spot, the team needs to have a rock-solid batter, someone with the ability to stabilise the innings.
![England players who could be shown the Test exit door [Source: AFP]](https://onecricketnews.akamaized.net/parth-editor/oc-dashboard/news-images-prod/1783925376978_EnglandplayerswhocouldbeshowntheTestexitdoor.jpg?type=hq)
England players who could be shown the Test exit door [Source: AFP]
