We’ve been building towards this moment, says McCullum ahead of Ashes opener

Perth, Nov 20 (IANS) England head coach Brendon McCullum believes his team is prepared for the Ashes series that could be defining for them.

Since taking charge in 2022, McCullum and captain Ben Stokes have rejuvenated the England Test team, and the former New Zealand captain said the Englishmen have been ‘building to this moment’ come the first Test in Perth starting on Friday.

“There nothing bigger than what were about to come into. This team has been together for a good couple of years and we have been building towards this moment. It is the biggest stage and it is the brightest lights. It is a series that could define teams, the people and players within it. That OK. You know youre ready, you know you have the game to compete at this level. Stay together, play the style you have become accustomed to and well see in a couple of months where we land,” McCullum told BBC Sport.

England are set to confirm their XI for the first Test on Thursday, with spinner Shoaib Bashir likely to be excluded from the 12-man squad announced on Wednesday. This suggests the tourists will feature a five-man pace attack, likely the fastest theyve assembled for a Test match.

“Im super excited and probably a little bit more relaxed now than I was a few weeks ago. Weve got our team to the start line. I feel like our horse is going to run well. Whether we find another horse in the race that is better than us, who knows,” he added.

After McCullum and Stokes joined in 2022, they transformed England approach to the game. They assembled a new team featuring several young players and achieved notable series victories at home against New Zealand and South Africa, as well as against the Kiwis and Pakistan.

However, England have not secured a win in a high-profile five-Test series against either Australia or India, including a 2-2 draw in the last Ashes series on home soil in 2023. England have not secured a single Test victory in Australia since their last series win there 14 years ago.

“For this team, it will define the progress weve made. For Stokesy to be able to lead an England team to an Ashes win away from home would be huge. We understand all of that stuff, but it about living in the moment and dealing with what comes. Well be challenged on this tour. Well have good days and bad days. As long as we keep moving towards the target, then well give ourselves the best chance,” McCullum stated.

England 12-man squad for 1st Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (captain), Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Mark Wood, Jofra Archer, Shoaib Bashir.

Australia XI for 1st Test: Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (captain), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett.

--IANS

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