Ben Stokes has backed Brendon McCullum’s continuation as head coach despite Australia’s 4-1 Ashes defeat. For his part, McCullum has accepted the need for improvement, but will push back when told what to do.
“When asked for my opinion, he has my full support and support,” Stokes said after England’s five-wicket defeat at the Sydney Cricket Ground. “I absolutely love working with Baz. He’s a great man and a very, very, very good coach. There’s more going on behind the scenes than he’ll ever give away or show. So yes, he has my full support.”
Losing Ashes tours have traditionally led to bloodshed at the captaincy, coaching and administrative levels. Stokes looks by far the safest and he confirmed at the end of the game that despite injury and diminishing returns with the bat, he has no intention of leaving his post.
He said: “I’m absolutely keen to keep going. I love it when I’m given a challenge and at the moment the challenge is to get the team back to where we once were in terms of the performances we delivered.”
McCullum appears safe for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka starting in February – plus a warm-up tour of Sri Lanka today – but in the wake of the Australia loss, the England and Wales Cricket Board announced it was already conducting a review.
Richard Gould, the CEO, has said this will include “planning and preparation, individual performance and behavior, and our ability to adapt and respond effectively as circumstances require.”
This could result in a bottleneck further down the line, with McCullum sticking to his methods and sounding like he will reject any suggestions that compromise them. “I’m not against help, but I strongly believe in how to get the best out of these players,” the New Zealander told BBC Sport.
“I look at it individually and say, ‘What could I have done better?’ Am I because I’m told what to do? Of course I’m not. But at the same time, I don’t think there are any areas for improvement.”
Stokes’ commitment to the Test captaincy was to be expected, but looking back on the tour he also admitted that in recent matches his team had been tactically discovered by opponents and unable to adapt in turn. He said: “We are now playing against teams that have answers to the style of cricket that we have been playing for a very long time. In the first few years, teams found it difficult to come up with something to counter the way we were playing. But now teams are coming up with plans that are actually against a particular style of cricket that we want to play.”
“You can see at times in the series that when we have been positive and taken a few risks it has paid off in our favour, but there have been moments in games throughout the series and even before that where we have almost given the flow of the game to the opposition.”
At one point, Stokes even suggested that England would now go “back to the drawing board”, although details of this appear to be limited for now to having “honest discussions”, including honest discussions with himself.
He said: “If things don’t go well, it ripples through the whole group. Even within myself, I haven’t reached the level I expected of myself as an all-round player, including as a captain. But I can say that to myself. There’s nothing wrong with being honest with yourself, and there’s nothing wrong with being honest with your teammates. Speaking the truth and saying things people don’t want to hear is sometimes the best thing.”
Stokes insisted his current dressing room still contains “England’s best players” and paid particular tribute to the “warrior spirit” of Brydon Carse after he finished the tour with 22 wickets.
He added: “Brydon Carse has played five Test matches, he has walked in every time and given everything and he has not shied away from any situation. Josh Tongue bowled, I don’t know how many overs, he had to catch up when I got injured and then he came back in today.
“So in terms of the warrior label people get, I think everyone does that when you put on the England shirt. I don’t think anyone can question what some of the lads have done, especially with the ball. I haven’t seen anyone who hasn’t given their best every time.”
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