Brendon McCullum insists that despite falling to a series defeat in India, England are poised to achieve "something special" over the coming 18 months, with the head coach "fizzing" to take the team forward.
Speaking a day after England's five-wicket loss in Ranchi, McCullum offered a positive appraisal of his side's efforts in India. "We're disappointed we've gone down in the series, but at the same time we're really proud of the efforts of the guys," said the New Zealander.
“We've had our moments throughout this series, we've performed well at times and been outplayed in others. It's been a great contest and you've got to acknowledge that India, at the times where the game has been sitting on the line, have really stepped up and performed."
England won the First Test of the five-match series in Hyderabad — just the fourth time in 47 matches that India had lost at home — before losing the following three to suffer their first series defeat of the McCullum-Ben Stokes era.
It is the second high-profile series in a row that England have failed to win, after drawing with Australia but failing to reclaim the Ashes last summer, but McCullum is confident the team is moving in the right direction, with 14 wins in 22 Tests since he took over in April 2022, compared to one win in 17 beforehand.
"We've lost this series and we didn't win the Ashes, but we're a better cricket team than we were 18 months ago and we've got opportunity in the next 18 months to do some pretty special s***," McCullum said, with India due to tour in 2025 and the year ending with an away Ashes series. "I'm fizzing for it, to be honest."
McCullum also leaned on the County Championship to provide opportunities for young spinners, saying it would be "mad" if neither of England's leading wicket-takers this series, Tom Hartley and Shoaib Bashir, were first-choice for their counties when they return home.
"I think that's really important," McCullum said. "Both of those guys have been outstanding in this series.
"When we picked Tom and Bash, there was probably a little bit of hesitation from others, and from us there was a bit of apprehension, too — we thought they had the skills, but will they be good enough at this level? What we've seen is they are definitely good enough.
"It will be a slight frustration of ours if they weren't given opportunities at county level.
"There's a very real possibility that might be the case, but without wanting to dictate to counties, because they have their own agendas as well, when you see performances like we have out of those two bowlers throughout the series, I think you'd be slightly mad if you didn't give them more opportunities in county cricket.
"Hopefully, we'll see them get plenty of chances — and if it's not for them, then it might be for us."
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McCullum confirmed that England will report to the final Test of the series in Dharamshala, which begins in nine days' time, with a full bill of health, despite James Anderson and Ollie Robinson suffering minor quad and back complaints respectively during the Ranchi Test.
McCullum also re-stated that skipper Stokes is also an option to bowl, if required. "There's a chance, yeah," he said. "There was a chance this week, but it was more due to conditions that he didn't."
England are unlikely to ring the changes for the final Test and ruled out calling up another fast bowler to the squad for what will be seam-friendly conditions in the foothills of the Himalayas. McCullum also confirmed that Jonny Bairstow will make his 100th Test appearance.
"Jonny loves a milestone," joked McCullum. "He won't shy away from that. He'll play. It'll be really emotional for him. Everyone knows Jonny's story and he is quite an emotional character, so big milestones mean a lot to him. It'll be a really emotional time and we look forward to sharing it with him."