Brendon McCullum praises Harry Brook's on field leadership, admits ‘has work to do’ off the field after Wellington row

Brendon McCullum supports Harry Brook's leadership while acknowledging the need for improvement among England's young players.

Brendon McCullum has backed Harry Brook’s leadership qualities while acknowledging England’s “young lads” still have work to do away from the field, insisting the team and the board have dealt with an off-field mistake internally and do not feel any need to publicly disclose every detail.

Harry Brook in action. (REUTERS)

“Harry Brook is an outstanding leader on the field,” McCullum said during a media interaction. “I think his tactical acumen is as good as I’ve seen in a short period of time for a young man.”

McCullum’s support came with a reminder about the realities of modern sport — and the pressure young international cricketers are forced to grow up under. “He has work to do off the field, no doubt, as do some of the other young lads we have in our side and that’s what happens when you come in at 20 and it’s your formative years, growing up on a world stage with spotlight, fame, fortune and pressure that comes with it,” he said.

The England head coach also drew a clear line on how the team intends to manage such situations. Brendon McCullum said England prefer to discipline and address issues in-house rather than turning them into public episodes.

“Obviously when we’re made aware of things that haven’t gone right we discipline and we have a stern word and we try and deal with things internally. I don’t think we need to release all of those findings every time something arises to the media,” he said. “We feel like we deal with them and we’ve dealt with the processes of the last little while, I thought, pretty well.”

McCullum said he became aware of the “full story” during an ODI in Wellington in November, adding that Brook was not alone. “The boys have made a mistake,” he said. “They’re not the first ones that have ever done it. They won’t be the last ones that will ever do it.”

McCullum stressed that those involved had accepted responsibility and faced consequences. “They’ve put their hand up. They’ve been disciplined. They’ve been dealt with. The process was done internally at the ECB which we were all a part of,” he said.

While reiterating that the players were made aware of the seriousness of the matter, McCullum also made it clear that England’s focus now is on moving forward — and protecting a young group from sustained public scrutiny.

“The boys were under no uncertain terms of how we felt about it but now our job is to support them,” he said. “To be honest, I find it quite annoying that we keep going on and on about it because these are young men who are under immense pressure and they’ve put their hand up for something they’ve been disciplined for and piling on to them is not helpful for anyone.”