SOUTHPORT, England (AP) — Brendon McCullum has been fired as coach of England's test cricket team after four years in charge but will continue to lead the country's T20 and ODI sides.
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced Sunday that McCullum "will stand down," with the New Zealander saying in the ECB statement he was “gutted not to be continuing” with the test team — suggesting it was a decision taken by those above him.
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England's Jos Butler, right, talks to head coach Brendon McCullum during a nets session in Nottingham, England, Monday July 6, 2026. (David Davies/PA via AP)
England coach Brendon McCullum, right, chats with England's captain Harry Brook during warmup session before the start of the second T20 cricket match between England and India in Manchester, England, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
England head coach Brendon McCullum, left, and batting coach Marcus Trescothick stand in dejection as England lose the series against New Zealand on day five of the Third Cricket Test at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham, England, Monday June 29, 2026. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
England head coach Brendon McCullum attends a nets session in Nottingham, England, Monday July 6, 2026. (David Davies/PA via AP)
“But I respect the decision,” McCullum added. “My focus now is on giving everything I’ve got to the white-ball teams and helping England keep moving forward.”
The announcement came two weeks after England's series loss to New Zealand — its first loss at home in a series of three tests or more since 2012.
That came on the heels of a 4-1 Ashes series loss Down Under in which the England team came under scrutiny for its perceived lack of professionalism.
Ben Stokes quit international cricket after the New Zealand series and now McCullum has gone, too, signaling the end of the so-called “Bazball” era — an entertaining but often flawed period for test cricket in England.
“Brendon breathed new life into England men’s test team during an exciting period which saw some amazing victories, and we’re grateful for all he has given to the role," said Richard Gould, CEO of the ECB. "We now believe that the time is right to make a change for the test team as we target victory in the Ashes next summer.”
The ECB called the “Bazball” era — when McCullum's team played aggressive, fearless cricket — one of the most “exciting and progressive periods” in England's test-playing history.
“It’s been an absolute privilege to watch him shape the mentality of the team," ECB director Rob Key said, "to one the players have loved, and see him develop a new generation of talent who will be at the heart of England men’s teams for years to come.
"He leaves the test team well-set and poised to achieve great things.”
McCullum said there had been “some unbelievable highs and a few tough days along the way, but that’s all part of taking on a challenge like this.”
“I wish the test team nothing but success," he said. "There’s a hell of a lot of talent in that dressing room and they’re a special bunch of lads. I’ll always be backing the boys, with a smile on my face, and hoping they keep taking the game on. I know they’ll continue to make people proud.”
England's next test series is against Pakistan starting next month.
McCullum has combined his white and red-ball roles since January 2025.
England's T20 team has just thrashed India 4-0 in a home series to become the No. 1-ranked side in the world.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
England's Jos Butler, right, talks to head coach Brendon McCullum during a nets session in Nottingham, England, Monday July 6, 2026. (David Davies/PA via AP)
England coach Brendon McCullum, right, chats with England's captain Harry Brook during warmup session before the start of the second T20 cricket match between England and India in Manchester, England, Saturday, July 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
England head coach Brendon McCullum, left, and batting coach Marcus Trescothick stand in dejection as England lose the series against New Zealand on day five of the Third Cricket Test at Trent Bridge Cricket Ground, Nottingham, England, Monday June 29, 2026. (Jacob King/PA via AP)
England head coach Brendon McCullum attends a nets session in Nottingham, England, Monday July 6, 2026. (David Davies/PA via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States attacked Iran early Sunday morning over an Iranian strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz that set the container ship ablaze and forced its crew to abandon it. Iran responded with attacks targeting several countries in the Middle East, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Jordan.
The burst of fighting raised new questions about efforts to reach a permanent end to a war that began on Feb. 28. The strait, a key transit route for oil and natural gas, has become the key sticking point in negotiations, and repeated fighting over the past week has left negotiations in danger of collapse.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said it hit some 140 targets in Sunday’s strikes and went after missile and drone launch sites, ammunition dumps, communication equipment and other sites. It said the attacks, heavier than previous attacks in recent days, would weaken Iran’s ability to threaten civilian shipping.
“Iran made a poor choice. Now they pay,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wrote online.
Semiofficial Iranian news agencies reported that a navy officer was killed by the early morning attack. Iran retaliated by attacking nations in the region hosting U.S. military forces, while insisting it alone must control the strait and potentially charge vessels for traveling through it.
“The era of one-sided deals is OVER,” Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the speaker of Iran’s parliament and a main negotiator, wrote Sunday. “We told you: keep your word or pay the price. Reality is knocking.”
Iran and the U.S. agreed to an interim ceasefire on June 17, beginning a 60-day period aimed at reaching a permanent end to the war, which U.S. President Donald Trump declared “over” three days ago.
Negotiations have been repeatedly disrupted by violence. The U.S. has launched three rounds of airstrikes targeting Iran in the last week over Iranian attacks on ships heading through the strait using a route seeking to avoid the Islamic Republic’s territorial waters.
About a fifth of all traded oil and natural gas passed through the strait before the war began. Iran’s grip on it during the war led to a global energy crisis, though oil prices have sharply dropped since wartime highs of $120 a barrel.
Missile alerts sounded across several Gulf Arab countries early Sunday morning.
Qatar's military said it intercepted incoming Iranian fire, with explosions heard in the neighboring United Arab Emirates. Three people, including a child, were wounded as a result of falling shrapnel from the interception of Iranian attacks, Qatar's Interior Ministry said, giving no further details on their conditions.
Meanwhile, missile alerts sounded in Bahrain, an island kingdom in the Persian Gulf home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. Kuwait's military also said it was intercepting incoming fire.
The Omani state news agency said drones struck sites in an area that sits on the Strait of Hormuz and issued a shelter-in-place warning for residents in the region. The attack came after the two countries held talks on Saturday. Oman summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest the strikes.
Three Iranian missiles struck areas across Jordan, causing minor damage but no injuries, Jordan's state news agency reported.
Sirens also sounded in the United Arab Emirates, but the government said missiles did not cross into UAE borders. The UAE so far hasn't been targeted in the most recent round of Iranian attacks.
In the Strait of Hormuz attack, a Cyprus-flagged container ship was hit by Iran and suffered “significant engineroom damage,” the U.S. Central Command said early Sunday morning.
Oman's maritime authority said it rescued 23 crew members from the ship, but that one is still missing. India’s Ministry of External Affairs said the missing crew member is an Indian national and said it was working with Oman to locate him.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, overseen by the British military, said the ship had been hugging the shoreline of Oman. That's been the way ships have entered and exited the Persian Gulf while avoiding Iranian territorial waters.
Iran has sought to maintain control over transit through the strait during the 60-day ceasefire. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard said multiple vessels “disregarded our warnings" and ignored instructions to follow what it called an approved route. One of them “was struck by a warning shot and brought to a stop.”
Iran said that the strait would remain closed “until further notice” and said it would consider targeting “additional enemy bases in the region” if it faced more attacks.
Iranian state media reported U.S. strikes across the country, including southern Iran in the province closest to the Strait of Hormuz, and military sites in a province near Tehran.
The latest violence followed Iran and Oman’s foreign ministers meeting on Saturday to discuss the strait. The narrow strait sits in both Iran and Oman's territorial waters, but has long been considered an international waterway.
Oman said it and Iran agreed to continue discussing the Strait of Hormuz “at the technical and political levels.” However, Iran offered no statement about the strait being open to all — something sought by the Trump administration.
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested last week that the interim deal in the Iran war was “over.” But mediators, including Pakistan, Qatar and Egypt, have continued efforts to reach an agreement. A regional official involved in the mediation, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss those talks, said efforts to shore up the ceasefire were continuing Sunday.
Iran’s new supreme leader, still unseen since the war began, also vowed in his first statement since the funeral of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that Iranians would avenge his killing in the war’s opening strikes on Feb. 28.
Such revenge “is the will of our nation and must certainly be carried out,” Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei said in a statement carried on state television.
Weissert reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Samy Magdy in Cairo and Melanie Lidman in Tel Aviv, Israel, contributed to this report.
A pro-government demonstrator wears an Iranian flag as she waves a religious flag in a gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A man holds a poster of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a gathering commemorating him at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A pro-government demonstrator wears an Iranian flag as she holds a religious flag in a gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Pro-government demonstrators wave Iranian and religious flags in a gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
A pro-government demonstrator waves an Iranian flag in a gathering commemorating the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at a square in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, July 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
