Malan backs McCullum to revive England's white-ball fortunes

England coach Brendon McCullum must find the right balance between youth and experience if he is to revive the country's white-ball fortunes, former player Dawid Malan has said.

England won the Cricket World Cup in 2019 and the world T20 title in 2022, but things have not gone smoothly in either limited-overs format since.

They failed to get past the pool stage at the 2023 ODI World Cup and white-ball coach Matthew Mott stepped down after their T20 World Cup semi-final exit in June, paving the way for the cricket board (ECB) to put McCullum in charge across formats.

The New Zealander, who already coaches the test team, will take additional charge of the limited-overs sides when England tour India in January, but a rebuild has already begun under interim head coach Marcus Trescothick.

Harry Brook was named ODI captain in the absence of the injured Jos Buttler and became the youngest England captain to score an ODI century in last month's series against Australia, in which Jordan Cox, Jacob Bethell and Jamie Overton made T20 debuts.

"England have got the players to rebuild and become one of the best white-ball teams in the world again," Malan told Reuters. "It's just finding that balance between which players to back and which senior players to stick with.

"I think you still have to earn the right to play for England. I don't think it's just giving caps out."

Malan, 37, pointed to the dramatic loss of form suffered simultaneously by several England stalwarts during the 2023 World Cup as evidence the white-ball sides were in need of fresh blood.

"If you look at the 2023 World Cup ... the guys you bank on - (Joe) Root, (Jonny) Bairstow, (Jos) Buttler - all sort of struggled at the same time, which is unheard of with those guys," he