Michael Vaughan: Brendon McCullum and Rob Key lucky to avoid sacking after ECB review of England’s Ashes

Key was also a guest on the TMS programme, and said England will make changes in the way they approach selection.

There was a perception that the England Test team looked like a “closed shop”, particularly for players in county cricket who did not suit Bazball’s aggressive style.

Key said the introduction of a “county vision group” to provide insight into selection would attempt to formally rebuild relationships with stakeholders, including cricket directors, in the domestic game.

The 46-year-old former Kent captain also said England’s selection policy will become tougher compared to the past when some players seemed almost irreplaceable.

“We overrated loyalty and overrated having a stable team,” Key said.

“We thought what we wanted to do was make sure we had a stable team there [in Australia]to go out there and not give the opening batsman a first appearance [during the Ashes] And things like that.

“But what that does is it creates an environment where there aren’t enough consequences. We need to be more ruthless in our choices.”

McCullum is set to return to action at the end of May as England prepare for a Test series against his native New Zealand which begins at Lord’s on June 4.

However, Vaughan felt it would have been worthwhile for McCullum to have spent time on the track during the early rounds of the county championship – for good PR if nothing else.

“I’m a little disappointed he won’t come a little earlier,” Vaughan said.

“I think at this stage, when you’re trying to get the fans back, and you’re trying to get part of the game back, if I were Brendon McCullum, I’d be coming in a few weeks ago, going around the counties.

“I’d go and talk to a few coaches, go and talk to a few referees, just talk for the optics. Because at this point he needs the fans, and he needs the game to kind of support his philosophy a little bit more.”

You can watch TMS’s full discussion of the post-Ashes review at BBC iPlayer or Download it as a podcast.