England coach Brendon McCullum wants to be "challenged" by white-ball mentor Kevin Pietersen and has "no problem" with the former batter's previous criticism of the team. Pietersen will work with England for most series up to and including the 2027 World Cup, starting during the three T20s and as many ODIs at home to Sri Lanka this month. The 46-year-old, who scored almost 14,000 runs across all three formats of international cricket between 2004 and 20144, accused England of a lack of preparation during a white-ball tour of India in 2025 in which they lost ODI and T20I series.
Speaking ahead of Tuesday's opening T20 in Southampton - live on Sky Sports from 6pm (6.30pm first ball) - McCullum said it was his decision to bring Pietersen onto the coaching staff and hopes his "big personality" will rub off onto the players. The New Zealander told reporters: "When I rang him and asked whether he would be interested in coming and working with England, I think he thought I was joking for a start! "He mentioned that he has been quite critical of us in the past and I said, 'I have no problem with that, mate'.
There are parts I might agree with and parts I might not agree with and that's fine. "The way he looks at the game is quite different to a lot of people and if someone can see something different and point that out to help you to become better, then I see that as no bad thing. Kev will do that and I have encouraged him to do that.
"I don't want him to be buried in one specific skillset - I want him to look across the set-up and challenge me privately on ways we can improve and do things differently." McCullum continued: "The beauty of Kev coming in is that he has an incredible pedigree as a player - a lot of our players grew up watching and idolising him when he was in his pomp as a player. "He is one of those guys where he has so much in his life so for him to give up those things to focus on trying to help us to get to the level we want and challenge for World Cups, we are incredibly lucky. "Kev was an unbelievable player and a winner.
He left no stone unturned with his preparation. He believed in himself in those big moments and more often than not performed in those moments. He is a big personality and fiercely competitive.
"They are attributes we would love to rub off onto our players. It is great to be able to add a resource like that and I only see an upside. "He has brought a ton of energy to the set-up in the last 24 hours.
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