Given his love of horse racing, it was no surprise Brendon McCullum used the language of the track to explain why taking over England’s white-ball teams alongside his job as Test coach was a gamble, before adding: “The bet’s worth it, I think.”

Having been given the blessing of his wife, Ellissa, and, perhaps more importantly, Test captain Ben Stokes, McCullum explained he had little hesitation in replacing the sacked Matthew Mott once asked by Rob Key, England’s director of cricket.

Speaking on the eve of Friday’s final Test against Sri Lanka, the New Zealander said: “Ultimately, I looked at the opportunity and thought what a great chance to have a good crack.”

It was a big call from both Key and McCullum to unify the coaching roles. On the one hand, McCullum will have to sacrifice a significant time at his home in New Zealand to make this new arrangement work. He also has the task of rebuilding what he termed a white-ball “dynasty” that has lost its aura following the loss of both world titles over the past 10 months.

That would be a big enough job on its own. But in his first year as all-format supremo, McCullum will also have to plan for the hardest job in English cricket – attempting to win an Ashes series in Australia.

That is perhaps why he spoke about “walking towards the danger” rather than running when explaining how he would try and get the best out of white-ball captain Jos Buttler. After all, you can’t run before you can walk.

Buttler is a peculiar case. His job looked untenable after England were knocked out in the first round of the 50-over World Cup in India last winter. He then became increasingly frazzled on and off the field at June’s T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

But in one moment talking about Buttler that was at once playful, mocking and inspiring, McCullum illustrated why he is the man this white-ball set-up desperately needs right now.

“Yeah, he’s been a little bit miserable at times,” McCullum said.

“My job is to get the best out of him so that all those that sit in the dressing room feel like they can be 10-foot tall and bulletproof when they walk out to play, and they know that the skipper is going to give them that extra pat on the back and enjoy the ride with them. So it’s a great challenge. I’m so excited about it, and know Jos is too.”

McCullum revealed it was his idea when taking on this new role to extend his contract to the end of 2027 – a year that includes the next home Ashes series and 50-over World Cup in southern Africa.

It seems like Stokes is also going to be along for the ride until the end of McCullum’s contract.

“The skipper and I haven’t spoken about that actually, but I’m assuming he’s all in,” he said.

“I know how invested he is in English cricket and how determined he is to drive this team forward. I’d assume that will involve him being in charge for that period of time.”

Stokes is also likely to be persuaded to extend his white-ball career, too, despite having not played 50-over cricket since coming out of retirement for last autumn’s World Cup in India and missing England’s recent T20 campaign in the Caribbean.

“Yeah, why not?” McCullum said.

“I guess we’ll see where he sits. He loves big moments and big stages. As we’ll have to do with all our players, there’ll be times where they can’t play everything.

“But when it comes to major events and big series, I think those players are very much in those discussions.”

Stokes playing all three formats again comes with significant risk. He is currently 33 and out with a hamstring injury he admitted this week might see him miss the start of England’s Test series in Pakistan next month.

Managing the workloads of his all-format players is the biggest challenge McCullum will face. Australia have shown that a greater alignment of playing personnel across formats works.

England, after years of the red and white-ball set-ups diverging, look likely to go the same way under McCullum.

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Stokes, Jamie Smith, Harry Brook, Gus Atkinson, Mark Wood and, hopefully, Jofra Archer would all be in England’s best XI whatever the format. But tough choices will have to be made to ensure nobody, including McCullum, suffers burn-out.

Yet the way he spoke about the talent in English cricket and why it should rival India was inspiring.

“I think India’s got an incredible resource pool,” McCullum said.

“They’ve got sheer numbers as well. But there’s no reason with the passion for the game in this country why it can’t be challenging India in that regard for all the major titles. Ultimately that’s my job.

“Great talent sits within English cricket and it’s about realising that and bringing it together for one common vision.”

So, come the end of 2027, what would represent success for Bazball’s takeover of English cricket? If England can win an Ashes series, in Australia in 2025-26 or at home in 2027, and a World Cup, either the T20 in India in 2026 or the 50-over one the following year, it will be deemed a success.

With the way McCullum has revitalised the Test team over the past two years it is possible. Indeed, anything less would be a disappointment. No pressure, Baz.