Kiwi Latham backing McCullum and Stokes to revitalise England

NEW ZEALAND opener Tom Latham has predicted a bright future for English cricket in the new Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum era.

The current Black Caps vicecaptain is perfectly placed to offer a guess as to how both men will perform in their new roles.

Latham spent time alongside Stokes in Durham’s academy, then batted alongside McCullum for the first hour and a quarter of the stunning triple hundred the new England head coach recorded against India in 2014.

Of his first encounter with Stokes, Latham said: ‘Paul Wiseman, our network coach for Canterbury, was playing at Durham at the time and because of that a bit of an exchange started to happen.

‘Ben was playing first-team stuff then but I went back to play for Durham for a couple of seasons in 2017 and 2018 and he’s played a little bit of domestic cricket with me at Canterbury, so I have seen what a fantastic player and leader he is. I’m sure he’ll get those guys going in the right direction.

‘He will be a follow-me type of captain. He is someone that does some freakish things with bat and ball, he has a wealth of experience at international level and in different parts of the world. He’s put in amazing performances on the cricket field and I’m sure that will continue now he’s a leader.’

There is a reluctance to divulge the secrets of what McCullum did to catalyse New Zealand’s Test cricket during his captaincy tenure of 2013-16, although Latham suggests change came about via simplistic methods — players were asked to take ownership of their performances.

‘I was lucky enough to play a little bit with Brendon in the later part of his career and the direction in which he took us was exciting,’ said Latham.

‘The sheer belief he had was what made you want to back him from a player’s point of view.

‘Back home, he’s renowned for what he did with us and it’s exciting for English cricket with someone like that taking over.’