'Treating us like idiots': England greats fume after cricket boss refuses to sack Stokes, McCullum

England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.

A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday.

Firing people would “be the easy thing to do”, ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out".

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Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.

“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That’s not the route that we’re going to take,” Gould said on Monday night.

“I’ve seen the driving ambition and determination that we’re lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”

Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City football club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as football's hire-and-fire culture.

“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it’s not like football where there’s a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said.

He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign".

The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehaviour, and selection mistakes.

At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up", they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve", the behaviour of some players was “unprofessional", there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major Test series.

Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semi finals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.

Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.

“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said.

“That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”

Stokes to Instagram following the decision being made public.

"The last three months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it's tested me in so many different ways and I'm sure every other captain has gone through this as well," he wrote.

"Baz (McCullum), Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.

"I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that I f---ing love cricket, I f---ing love this team, I f---ing love being England captain and I have got so much more to give to this role."

The decision not to sack any of the top dogs has not gone down well with former England players.

Former captains Geoffrey Boycott and Michael Atherton were both scathing of Gould's decision in separate newspaper columns written after the press conference.

"The review was done by Richard Gould, the ECB chief executive, who has never played county or Test match cricket, and he decided nobody is to blame. What planet is he on?" Boycott wrote in The Telegraph.

"The ECB is accountable to the 18 counties and the chairmen of those counties should assert themselves and sack the chief executive for treating us, England cricket lovers like idiots.

"Cricket supporters will be asking how Brendon and Rob could make so many bad decisions on the Australian tour and yet the chief executive of English cricket decides there is no need to make any changes. Where is the accountability?"

In The Times, Atherton wrote "the ECB had little appetite at this stage for significant upheaval and a hefty payout".

England will be back in Australia in March 2027 for the 150th anniversary Test match.

- with Simon Brunsdon