Brendon McCullum says that his "commitment to English cricket has never wavered", despite his role as the Test coach coming under scrutiny in the wake of Ben Stokes' retirement.
McCullum, England's head coach, has an ECB contract that extends until the end of the 2027 Ashes, having secured a lucrative extension in September 2024 to cover both red- and white-ball cricket.
It means that, instead of being drawn into the inquest into England's 2-1 series loss to New Zealand - their first in a three-Test series at home since 2012 - his focus will immediately switch to the impending five-match T20I series against India, which begins in Durham on Wednesday.
But, he insisted, "the pointy end of the market" demanded "a sense of balance when there's a bit of chaos around you", adding that he is still "energized" by the role despite having now overseen a run of seven losses in nine Tests, dating back to the Oval Test against India in August last year.
"My enthusiasm for English cricket and my commitment to English cricket has never wavered," McCullum told Sky Sports. "I've got a firm belief in the direction that this team can go. We still have an identity about us, but we want to continue to furnish and harness that, to get us in a direction that we are the team that we want to be, and that we want to represent for the people of this country."
McCullum said that the 115-run win in the first Test at Lord's demonstrated that England could become "a more rounded cricket team, rather than just a talented cricket team", but played down their back-to-back losses at The Oval and Trent Bridge. The former was "difficult for a number of reasons", he said, following the suspension of Stokes and Gus Atkinson for an apparent breach of team protocol. The latter was a case of being "outplayed in a tough contest by a good New Zealand side".
"The talent that sits within this country is immense," McCullum added. "We just need to make sure we continue to give that opportunity, but still get results along the way."
That talent will be stretched across formats in the coming days, with a 48-hour turnaround to the one-day series. Harry Brook, who has received Stokes' 100% backing to take over as Test captain, will be leading the T20I side against India on Wednesday, and was seen practising with a white ball, along with his fellow multi-format team-mate Jacob Bethell, on the final morning of the Test.
"You can't do anything about the scheduling, it is what it is," McCullum said. "You've just got to operate around it, and the good thing is we've got some good strong options within our squad.
"We look to Durham in two days' time, and we look at the workloads that some of our boys have had in this Test, and you work out what's the right balance, and how do you manufacture it? When we get up to Durham, we'll make our plan, and we'll look forward to the Indian series getting underway."