Former England captain Geoffrey Boycott has again slammed head coach Brendon McCullum, director of cricket Rob Key, and skipper Ben Stokes in the aftermath of their 4-1 Ashes debacle in Australia.

“England’s three wise men turned out to be the three stooges. Brendon McCullum, Rob Key and Ben Stokes sold a lie for three years. McCullum’s philosophy is do your own thing. Play without a care in the world. Nobody tells them off, no accountability, and nobody gets dropped, so they just keep doing the same daft things,” Boycott wrote in his column for London’s Daily Telegraph.

“Why should the players change, adapt, or improve if the coach and captain are okay with it? People are now getting fed up with this way of playing and if Key keeps backing McCullum to allow the players to continue making the same mistakes then his job may be on the line.

“I like McCullum. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like him and he has been a breath of fresh air for England cricket which has been exciting. But he is a gambler who thinks he is always going to win his money back. That’s how casinos always win in the end. How many hopefuls start well but finish in tears? The reason is they don’t know when to stop or change their routine,” he wrote.

“This sort of free licence to do whatever you please with no consequence is holding England back. We have some very talented cricketers but that skill is not being harnessed. To get to the next level we need a different discipline and structure to the way the players prepare and think,” wrote Boycott.

“If the three wise men stay then the ECB has to make sure there is some sort of change. Key should be told to invite a couple of the past great players like Ian Botham, Graham Gooch and David Gower to sit with him and McCullum, and even the captain, to receive first-hand some fresh and different ideas. The ex-players have been winners in Ashes series so know what they are talking about...”

Another former captain and chief cricket correspondent for The Times, London, Mike Atherton too didn’t spare the think-tank.

“When Key brought together McCullum and Stokes in early 2022 he did so with the words: ‘Buckle up and get ready for the ride.’ And it was a wild, hugely enjoyable ride for the first two years, producing some of the most memorable cricket ever seen from an England Test team.

“A core of senior players, such as Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow, thrived in a more liberated environment, but this is a different team: younger, less established, more naive and less mature in cricket and life, and therefore in need of direction and a firmer hand on the tiller.”