Focus only on winning series, says England returning captain Stokes

England’s returning captain Ben Stokes said his focus is solely on winning the series-deciding Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge after a tumultuous fortnight in which he was left out after he and bowler Gus Atkinson broke a team curfew. Stokes was cleared to resume in his role on Sunday following investigations by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Cricket Regulator into an incident in a nightclub on June 8 after England beat New Zealand at Lord’s to go 1-0 ahead.

In his absence England suffered a heavy defeat at The Oval with batsman and former skipper Joe Root as stand-in captain. Addressing the media ahead of the third Test, Stokes said he was concentrating on securing a series win, and played down any cooling of his relationship with head coach Brendon McCullum.

“There’s been a lot going on, there’s no hiding away from that,” Stokes, who took over from Root as captain in 2022, said.

“This has been something that has happened and has obviously taken a lot of attention away from the series. But I want to make sure that my focus is where it needs to be.

“I’m here as captain of this team and all I’m trying to do is get a team focused on winning the series this week.”

Stokes said he had apologised to his team mates for the distractions the investigation had caused.

“You need to be big enough and man enough to take that upon your shoulders, and look everyone who it has affected in the eye and apologise the way you need to apologise,” he said.

“That is something that I did. It affects more than just myself. It affects a lot of people. It affected Joe Root, the squad, the people outside the playing environment. It no doubt had an effect on lads who were making their debut.”

Stokes and Atkinson were both given written warnings over their conduct after being found to have breached ‘contractual obligations’ although both were found blameless in a nightclub incident involving a Saracens rugby player.

Much has been made of Stokes’s relationship with McCullum. The pair have been responsible for England’s attacking so-called “Bazball” style since 2022, although results have deteriorated with England losing six of their last eight Tests.

“There’s been a big misconception around this with me and Brendon,” Stokes said, denying suggestions they had drifted apart. “Obviously we have a professional relationship in terms of Brendon being head coach and me being captain, but then away from that we genuinely are very good mates.

“We’ve built a rapport and a relationship and we’ve been through some testing times, we’ve been through some great times and do we agree on everything? Absolutely not. Do we have discussions around things? Absolutely.

“Not agreeing on everything shouldn’t be seen as a divide between Brendon and me.”

Stokes also expressed sympathy for Root after some of his tactics were criticised in the 253-run loss in the second Test.

Reuters