Jealous of England Test players for having Brendon McCullum as coach: Eoin Morgan

England's new era of red-ball cricket will start when they take on New Zealand on June 2 in the Lord's Test under the coach-captain pair of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes. 

Speaking ahead of the series, England's limited-overs skipper Eoin Morgan expressed that he is jealous of the players in the Test side, who will be under the former New Zealand captain.

Speaking to Sportsmail, Morgan said, "It's unbelievably exciting. In many ways, I'm jealous of the Test players because, having played both with him and under him, I know what a great man-manager Baz is,"

Morgan was under McCullum's coaching while with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as a player first and then as a captain. The duo tasted success in the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The franchise ended as the runner-up, losing the final to Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in UAE.

The World Cup-winning captain gave his views on the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) appointment of McCullum as a coach.

"The best head coaches can lighten things up and reiterate what direction you're going in, what your purpose is. It's a brilliant appointment, and it says not only a huge amount about English Test cricket but Test cricket in general. We need to be competitive for it to flourish," the Ireland-born declared.

McCullum will take over the position from Chris Silverwood, who is now working as head coach for Sri Lanka. Silverwood left his post after England suffered a 0-4 defeat in The Ashes Down Under at the start of the year.

Former T20 World Cup-winning captain Paul Collingwood was appointed interim coach for the West Indies tour, which proceeded to a 0-1 Test series loss, eventually leading to Joe Root's resignation.

The first Test between England and New Zealand will start on June 2, while the Nottingham and Leeds Test matches begin on June 10 and June 23.