McCullum backs Pietersen to help England after collapse on ‘trampoline’ pitch
England's white-ball coach Brendon McCullum has outsourced the post-match debrief to Kevin Pietersen after the team collapsed to 131 all out in Perth.
The collapse to 131 all out for a seven-wicket defeat in Perth on Friday naturally brought back memories of the first Ashes Test 12 months ago. McCullum said he would outsource the post-match debrief to Pietersen, before the 46-year-old departs for India on Monday to speak at a YouTube conference.
Having originally planned to return for the T20 leg of this tour, Pietersen's next assignment with England is now expected to be the ODIs in South Africa in January.
Pitch challenges
McCullum emphasized the difficulty of adapting to the Perth surface, which he described as "a bit like batting on a trampoline." The defeat highlighted potential issues England might face during next year's 50-over World Cup in southern Africa, where similar fast, bouncy surfaces are expected.
Team adjustments
After an encouraging summer with series wins over India and Sri Lanka, England's 50-over side has endured a disappointing start to the winter. Four defeats and just one dead-rubber victory during the recent tri-series in Pakistan has underlined the scale of their task.
We knew that the surface here today was going to be seam-friendly and spin wasn't going to play a massive part, hence why we went with Daws [who is] probably a better batter than Rash at the minute.
One noteworthy feature has been the leg-spinner Adil Rashid losing his spot to Liam Dawson. Captain Harry Brook insisted this selection call was solely down to conditions, though whether this reason holds in Adelaide, usually a more batter-friendly pitch, remains to be seen.
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