LONDON: Brendon McCullum has hailed his successor Stephen Fleming as “like me, but better”, after England appointed his former New Zealand team-mate as Test coach.

McCullum was sacked from his role in charge of the red-ball side last month after a woeful Ashes campaign was followed by a 2-1 series loss at home to New Zealand, but he remains in charge of England’s limited-overs teams.

England are now reverting to a split coaching set-up with Fleming — like McCullum a former captain of New Zealand — taking over for the tour of South Africa later this year that follows a home series against Pakistan.

Former batsman Fleming, 53, made his name as a coach in the Indian Premier League, leading Chennai Super Kings to five titles.

“The ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) has done incredibly well to get someone who has options all round the world,” McCullum told Sky Sports. “To get someone [like him] to commit to English cricket for the period he has is an outstanding achievement.

“I had a great time for those four years and now it’s heading in a different direction. Flem will be excellent. He’s a little bit like me, but better.”

McCullum believes he can work closely with Fleming to avoid disputes over the availability of multi-format players such as Test captain Joe Root and white-ball skipper Harry Brook.

“Flem and I talk pretty much every day, we’re close mates and we’ve done a lot together. He’s one of those guys I trust completely,” said McCullum.

“We have good robust conversations and both of us just want what’s right for English cricket. We want to be able to set this thing up so England is successful across all three formats of the game.

“That is going to take some give and some take at times, but we both understand that and we are going to try and work very closely together.”

Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick will be the interim head coach for the three-Test series against Pakistan starting at Headingley on Aug 19.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2026