England head coach Brendon McCullum remained non-committal about naming a successor to Jos Buttler as the team’s white-ball captain after Buttler stepped down during the ongoing 2025 Champions Trophy. However, he did not dismiss the idea of having separate captains for the ODI and T20I teams.
England‘s poor ODI form continued in the 2025 Champions Trophy, where they lost all three Group B matches and finished at the bottom of the table. This follows a streak of four consecutive bilateral ODI series defeats leading up to the tournament.
Under Buttler’s leadership, England had also faced a first-round exit in the 2023 ODI World Cup. Addressing the media about England’s next white-ball captain after their disappointing Champions Trophy campaign, McCullum stated [as quoted by the ICC]:
“(We’ll) work it out over the next few weeks. (We’ll) make sure we have a good look at how the structure looks, how things are placed, and what each side needs. And if it’s the same person, then great.”
“If it’s two different people, then great too. We’ve obviously now got a structural change which is going to take place … and then with that they’ll bring some of their own ideas and want to stamp their own style on things.”
He further added:
“So, there’ll be a natural evolution of the team. I’ll get home in the next couple of days and then start to think about it, and start having some conversations with (England’s cricket manager) Rob Key and the guys at the ECB about who is the right person for us.”
“We were low on confidence” – Brendon McCullum
Brendon McCullum believed England struggled with confidence throughout the 2025 Champions Trophy, ending with a crushing seven-wicket loss to South Africa in Karachi on March 1. Already out of semifinal contention, England managed only 179, as South Africa chased it down in just 29.1 overs in Jos Buttler’s final match as captain.
“I felt that we lacked confidence and I thought today was another example of that. Sometimes guys are a little bit low on confidence and we don’t necessarily get the output that we want and hence why you find yourself on the outside of the tournament,” said McCullum.
He further elaborated:
“We’ve got to put our hands up and acknowledge that it wasn’t good enough and that’s okay in sport, you don’t get to be upset if you haven’t played well. Sometimes it doesn’t work out and you’ve just got to wear that as best you can and try and keep moving forward.”
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