LONDON : England captain Ben Stokes said his attention is firmly on securing a series victory over New Zealand after returning to lead the side following a disciplinary investigation that sidelined him for the second test.
Stokes was cleared to resume captaincy duties on Sunday after inquiries by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Cricket Regulator into an incident at a London nightclub following England’s first-test victory at Lord’s on June 8.
The all-rounder and fast bowler Gus Atkinson were both omitted from the second test after breaching a team curfew. While both players received written warnings for failing to meet contractual obligations, investigators found them blameless in a separate nightclub incident involving a Saracens rugby player.
England lost the second test by 253 runs under stand-in captain Joe Root, leaving the three-match series level at 1-1 ahead of the deciding match at Trent Bridge.
“Right now my focus is on the team and on the series,” Stokes told reporters on Tuesday. “We are one-all in a three-match series. This week is massive for this team regardless of what’s going on.”
The episode has prompted scrutiny of Stokes’s relationship with head coach Brendon McCullum, with some reports suggesting tensions between the pair as England’s results have declined. Since the introduction of their aggressive ‘Bazball’ approach in 2022, England have recently endured a difficult run, losing six of their last eight tests.
Stokes rejected suggestions that he and McCullum had grown apart.
“There’s been a big misconception around this with me and Brendon,” he said. “Obviously we have a professional relationship in terms of Brendon being head coach and me being captain, but 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 and some great times. 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 defended Root, who came under criticism for some tactical decisions during England’s heavy defeat in the second test.
“To see him stand up and take that responsibility on last week showed a lot about his character,” Stokes said.
“For me as his friend, it was hard to see the reaction that he got and for me that’s something that hurt.”
England will seek to regain the series against New Zealand at Trent Bridge, with Stokes returning to the forefront after a turbulent two weeks off the field.
