Brendon McCullum’s future is under the microscope as England prepare for the white-ball series in Sri Lanka

Will McCollum still feel like the man in control? When he took charge of the Test team for the first time in 2022, he was flabbergasted that the England dietitian would not allow the players to eat a bacon sandwich.

Keen to empower players, McCollum saved the bacon. Now, he and his men are being told what time they must return to the hotel.

Positive results over the coming weeks will improve your mood. England need to win all three one-day matches against Sri Lanka to boost their ranking in order to secure automatic qualification for the 2027 World Cup.

They are also two-time winners of the T20 World Cup, the next edition of which starts next month. The shorter format is arguably the best in England at the moment. However, they reached the semi-finals of the recent T20 World Cup and that was not enough to save head coach Matthew Mott’s job.

If McCollum is left in trouble by changes imposed from above, it is possible to wonder whether senior officials at the ECB are consulting the players.

Test captain Ben Stokes is probably the most powerful man in English cricket and has thrown his support behind McCullum, even if their messages have varied during the Ashes series.

Brock is almost as important, given his presence in various forms. No one has played more games for England since Brook made his Test debut in 2022, and it is very likely that he will be the only man who will play every game this winter.

The 26-year-old has spurned franchise fortunes to commit to the national team and remains the most likely candidate to be the next Test captain, Wellington’s misdemeanor notwithstanding.

Brock on Wednesday described McCollum as the best coach he has ever played for.

Perhaps here lies the problem. McCollum is popular with his players partly because of the freedom he promotes on and off the field. Now, these freedoms have been identified as a reason for England’s poor results, and have been withdrawn.

A year before McCullum took over as England coach, he was in charge of the Indian Premier League side Kolkata Knight Riders. Frustrated by what he saw as speculators’ lack of intent, he revealed one of his philosophies.

“The adage I’ve used throughout my career is if you can’t change a man, change a man,” McCollum said.

During his time with England, men who McCullum couldn’t change were changed for other men.

James Anderson can’t turn into a younger man and Jack Leach can’t turn into a taller man. Ben Fox couldn’t become the number seven man and Ollie Robinson couldn’t keep himself in the park.

Now McCollum has to answer his own question.

Can the goshawk change or should it change?