Brendon McCullum wants England to play 'high-octane' cricket on return Down Under

McCullum was axed as England's Test coach midway through the home summer, having overseen a 4-1 defeat in Australia, while there were also plenty of off-field disasters for the tourists Down Under.

England will play three ODIs against the hosts, which will be important preparation ahead of next year's World Cup, followed by a five-match T20I series.

McCullum said: "Firstly, it's nice to be back. An Australia tour is always a great tour. The cricket's always pretty competitive. We'll play at some great stadiums, against a good side, and continue to test our methods, towards the one-day World Cup.

"We know we need to keep getting better, but we've been presented with some good opportunities, and this will be one of those the next couple of weeks.

"We want to play a high-octane, robust style of play, which demands fitness elements to it. So for us, this is a great opportunity to have a little fitness block in and around the demand of this series."

England lost three of their four 50-over internationals in the recent tri-series in Pakistan, that also included Sri Lanka, but McCullum is hoping that the experience will be good for the current squad.

"Obviously, it was great to play in the tri-series," he said. "With the view towards the World Cup, the ability to be able to bounce between games, and different tactics, and different oppositions was good.

"We obviously didn't quite achieve what we wanted to, but we played some really good cricket and learned some great lessons. They should hold you in good stead in 12 months.

"We've got a pretty inexperienced team. These guys haven't played a lot of one-day cricket, so any opportunity to get experience and education, and those pressure moments, so that you can start to just understand a little bit better, it's going to be good."

READ MORE: New Zealand's Devon Conway to miss ODI opener against India due to concussion