Stokes And McCullum Held Brutal Meeting With England Icon In Bar Ahead Of Ashes

An England legend previously detailed how he, captain Ben Stokes, head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key took part in a public meeting which ruled the player out of the 2025/26 Ashes tour against his wishes.

Just over a week on from England’s disastrous 4-1 Ashes tour defeat against Australia, question marks remain about where it all went wrong.

The tourists came into the series hoping to be the first England squad to win a series in Australia since the side led by Andrew Strauss over 15 years ago.

But the home side were 3-0 up by Christmas following wins in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, while the England team’s off-field behaviour was also called into question after a mid-series trip to the Queensland town of Noosa resulted in reports that some players treated it as a “glorified stag do” before England Cricket launched an investigation. Although no further action was taken.

Then, battered and bruised by an already unsuccessful tour, it emerged that white-ball captain and red-ball vice-captain Harry Brook had been fined £30,000 by the English Cricket Board (ECB) after reports about a “late-night altercation” with a bouncer in New Zealand ahead of the Ashes.

England lost the five-Test Ashes series 4-1 (Credit:Getty)

Several accused the England team of lacking experience and know-how in Australia, with mid-series injuries to key bowlers Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, and Gus Atkinson not helping the away team’s cause.

By the fifth Test in Sydney, England’s bowling attack was made up of Brydon Carse and the inexperienced Josh Tongue, Jacob Bethell and Will Jacks, as well as some part-time spin from Joe Root after Stokes pulled up with a suspected groin injury while bowling in the first innings at the SCG.

So, did England overlook the importance of experience in favour of youthful exuberance?

The answer to that question is up for debate, but it was clear that in the 18 months leading up to the series, there was a concerted effort to move on from older players such as Sir James Anderson.

The Lancashire bowler, who took 704 Test wickets, played his final England Test at Lord’s against the West Indies in July of 2024 after a brutal meeting with McCullum, Stokes and Key at the Dakota hotel in Manchester that spring.

In his book, ‘Finding the Edge,’ the 43-year-old explained how he thought he had been called in for an appraisal in April 2024 after a tour of India, only to find out that he was effectively being forced into retirement from international cricket.

“As I walk towards them, it hits me cold,” Anderson wrote.

“This isn’t a team appraisal, is it?”

James Anderson was told he was not part of England's plans 19 months before the Ashes (Credit:Getty)

He added: “My brain is doing the maths and my heart is sinking as I go to shake their hands. I feel like Joe Pesci in Goodfellas, ushered into a room under the impression that I’m going to get made, only to be shot. You f------. They’re going to tell me something I don’t want to be told, aren’t they? Something I’ve been swerving, darting, shapeshifting, bowling through for my whole life.”

Anderson then described McCullum’s statement as “rehearsed” as the New Zealander told him that England were looking to the future and that he would not make the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia.

The Burnley-born swing bowler then recited a 45-second phone call with Strauss two years earlier, during which the then-ECB director of cricket had also tried to tell him that the side was moving on from both him and fellow legend Stuart Broad, only for both to return to the team three months later.

Anderson explained: “I guess you’d rather be stabbed in the front than the back. This time, it’s different. It’s both kinder and harsher, more sympathetic and more ruthless and, worst of all, nauseatingly final.”

Whether Anderson would’ve made a difference in the Ashes is purely guesswork, but having an experienced bowler offering words of advice to an otherwise inexperienced bowling unit would’ve likely been a positive rather than a negative.

Since retiring from international cricket, Anderson has continued to play both white-ball and red-ball cricket for Lancashire and Manchester Originals, having signed a new contract with Lancs in November 2025.