Brendon McCullum wants his England side to reconnect with the public and “show some humility” ahead of an era-defining period of Test cricket.

The head coach, speaking ahead of Thursday’s four-day clash against Zimbabwe, set out his agenda for the team and made it clear that strengthening the bond with fans is a top priority.

The early days of ‘Bazball’ were characterised by a sense of cheery bravado, on and off the field, but there is a sense that a lack of inhibition in the side’s public messaging has become counter-productive.

After a disappointing exit from the Champions Trophy earlier this year, managing director of men’s cricket Rob Key concluded that England spoke “a lot of rubbish a lot of the time”, while injured seamer Mark Wood recently admitted some pronouncements sounded “a bit dumb”.

Now, as attention begins to turn towards the summer’s main event against India and a huge Ashes tour this winter, McCullum wants to dial down some of the more outlandish statements and forge a new bond with supporters.

“We want the English fans to feel as if they’re a part of this journey with us as a team,” he said.

“There’s some things we need to do to make sure we bring everyone along for the ride as well, and that includes winning. We also want to be a strong representation of the English fans. We want the English fans to feel as if they’re a part of this.

“I think people were excited by the way that we played. They were enthralled by the freewheeling type of cricket we played and I’m guessing they felt a sense of belonging to that type of group.

“But if we look at it there are some ways we’ve probably let opportunities slip, some ways we’ve maybe not been as smart as what we possibly could with our comments in the media.

“There’s going to be mistakes made and there’s going to be periods where guys say things they don’t quite mean or can be misconstrued in a different way. But one of the things that we talk about is that we want the English fans to get in behind us.

“It’s not just about what you do on the cricket field. It’s how you carry yourself. It’s how you interact with the public. It’s the ability to be humble and show some humility and not feel out of reach or out of touch with the general population. That’s something that I’d like to see us improve on.”

England are firm favourites to deliver a resounding victory in Nottingham, against a Zimbabwe side with just one Test win in the last four years and a warm-up defeat at the hands of an inexperienced county select XI weighing against them.

The challenges of India and Australia are likely to be much sterner but they bring the chance to cement a legacy that lives long in the memory.

“To get to where we are, number two in the world, is good and everyone’s happy about that. But at the same time, there’s a lot of meat on the bone for us,” said McCullum.

“When we took on a project like this, it was not about necessarily settling on ‘good’. I think now’s the time, working from a strong base, to be able to sort of shoot for the stars and say, ‘where can we take this team? What can we achieve?'”