Ben Stokes reckons the past three months have been the “hardest period” of his time as England captain, but is determined the current leadership group can oversee a revival in the Test team’s fortunes.
Earlier on Monday, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), Richard Gould, confirmed that Stokes, managing director Rob Key, and coach Brendon McCullum would all remain in their posts despite the team’s 4-1 loss on their five-Test tour of Australia, which concluded in January.
Key denied suggestions that Stokes and McCullum had fallen out in Australia, despite the pair offering contrasting messages during a desperately disappointing series loss.
Stokes, in an emotional Instagram post, said he was determined to learn from his mistakes following the lowest period of his near four-year spell as England captain, with Key and McCullum still the right men to be alongside him.
“Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given, and I do not take it for granted,” Stokes wrote.
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“It has its highs, and it has its lows; it makes you want to smile, it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it’s the only thing in your life at times.
“The last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it’s tested me in so many different ways, and I’m sure every other captain has gone through this as well.
“Baz (McCullum), Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.”
In addition to England’s poor performances on the field, there were reports of excessive drinking by players on a break, raising concerns about the dressing-room culture.
Revelations followed that vice-captain Harry Brook had been involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer on the pre-Ashes visit to New Zealand.
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A midnight curfew has since been enforced, while the ECB are trying to recruit a new national selector after Luke Wright resigned for family reasons.
Ben Stokes has not played since suffering a groin injury in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January, but is set to feature for Durham in the County Championship ahead of this season’s home Test programme.
England have three Tests against McCullum’s native New Zealand in June, followed by a trio of matches against Pakistan in August and September.
“We all appreciate every single person who supports us. We do what we do for many reasons but one of those reasons is to bring our supporters and fans happiness and a sense of pride and we will aim to do those things as much as we can in the future,” Stokes said.
“See you all in June for the start of the Test Match summer.”
