Anderson says McCullum and Stokes will be a “match made in heaven” for England

England star James Anderson has praised the “positive” appointments of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, backing them to “help the Test team gets back to where it can be” after “a few dodgy years”

James Anderson believes Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes will be a “match made in heaven” as England Test coach and captain.

England are entering a new era following widespread personnel changes that came off the back of a humiliating 4-0 Ashes defeat this winter. Rob Key replaced Ashley Giles as Managing Director of England Men’s Cricket and appointed Stokes as skipper after Joe Root decided to step down.

Key also opted to split the head coach role between red and white ball cricket and has backed McCullum to turnaround a struggling Test side. Together, the trio are keen to recall veteran seamers Anderson and Stuart Broad, who were controversially dropped following the Ashes.

And Anderson is looking forward to playing his part under the new regime, describing McCullum as a “real forward thinker” and Stokes as “a born leader”. He also believes the pair will “help the Test team gets back to where it can be” after “a few dodgy years”.

Anderson told the Evening Standard : “Knowing both of them as I do, it’s a really positive move. They are positive thinking cricketers.

“Brendon is someone I played a lot of cricket against, and since he’s finished playing I’ve spent a bit of time with him off the field as well. Seeing how he went about playing the game and captaining New Zealand, he was a real forward thinker, he thought out of the box.

“From the test team’s point of view I think that’ll be really good. He will bring fresh ideas, energy to that group.

“Ben will do the same with his captaincy, he’s a very energetic bloke, passionate about English cricket, and he’s just a born leader. Hopefully from English cricket’s point of view it’s a match made in heaven.

“I think those two appointments are positive and should help the Test team gets back to where it can be, because we’ve had a few dodgy years, and we are in a sorry position in the [World] Test Championship.”