“Sometimes when you lose you have a period of reflection and what we saw was a team that bounced back a little bit stronger,” McCollum said. “I’m very pleased with the overall result of the series. I think West Indies have a very good bowling line-up and I thought the way we overcame that with our batting and approach was exceptional.
“Even though it was 3-0 on the scoreboard and it was over in 10 days, there were certain periods throughout the series where it felt like the game could have gone either way. But we were able to rise to the occasion and that’s something I’m really happy about.”
“Going into the series we knew we needed to make some improvements to continue to improve as a team,” McCollum said. “We brought in some new faces and some guys who have shown they are very comfortable at international level, and you never know until you give them a chance, right?
“What we saw from Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jamie Smith – these players showed that international cricket is where they belong and they have performed accordingly. From that perspective, I am really pleased, but I am also pleased with the growth of the team overall.”
But that doesn’t mean the transition from old to new was as smooth as the immediate results might lead us to believe.
“I mean, there’s no change, right?” McCollum said, acknowledging the awkwardness of the conversations needed to bring in new blood. “Keep in mind that the people who were there before have done a really good job for us. No disrespect to them, but we felt like we needed to introduce some new people, and we felt like we needed to introduce some people whose skills complement the rest of the lineup.
“We chose to do it, we hope they do well and we don’t expect any immediate rewards for that. But the way the series went, the players performed and showed they are definitely good enough at this level.”
Anderson and England will decide whether to make him a full-time player at the end of the summer. For now, McCullum is more than happy to have access to the mind and technique of a bowler who finished with 704 Test wickets three weeks ago.
“Sometimes when you’re a player you don’t always give everything to somebody else because you’re worried about your own performance. But when you look at the information that he (Andersen) has brought in and the way he fits into our coaching group so perfectly, we’re really fortunate to have that resource and the person that he is.
“It’s never easy, but Jimmy seems really happy right now. We’re happy to have him and we feel very fortunate to have him as part of our group.”
The Australians have been criticised after failing to win two World Cup campaigns in the white-ball format in the past nine months and met with men’s director of management Rob Key on Sunday as part of an ongoing review of the set-up. Reports suggest Moat is set to be sacked, with Jos Buttler expected to remain as captain.
“Motty is a great guy and a great coach,” McCullum said. “That’s it, right? I don’t know how it’s going to go, to be honest. I didn’t follow it very well. You worry about doing your job. He’s a great guy and whatever happens, he’ll be fine.”
Vithushan Ehantharajah is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo.
