England needed ‘improvements’ to take step forward, claims McCullum

• Cricket coach hails new arrivals of Atkinson and Smith
• ‘Those guys have shown they belong’, says red-ball coach

England’s 3-0 series win against West Indies showed they had “bounced back with a harder feel” after their winter defeat by India, according to Brendon McCullum. The head coach also said they have become “the sort of side able to go up against the best teams in the world”.

England won the three Tests by comfortable margins – an innings and 114 runs, 241 runs and 10 wickets – despite going through periods when they were put under concerted pressure by an inexperienced West Indies. They also integrated two new players in Gus Atkinson and Jamie Smith, while Shoaib Bashir played at home for the first time .