&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "ENG vs NZ: Ben Stokes to return as captain for final Test, confirms McCullum")
Ben Stokes will return as England’s Test captain for his team’s third and final Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge starting Thursday (Jun 25). Stokes and his teammate Gus Atkinson were pulled out of the squad for the second Test amid the ECB’s investigation into their London nightclub episode. The two breached England’s midnight curfew, thus facing the axe. After England conceded the second Test at the Oval by 253 runs, its head coach, Brendon McCullum, has confirmed talks of fast-tracking Stokes’ return to the playing XI for the series decider and reclaiming the captaincy.
In a shocking turn of events, just days after the local media reported that Stokes is contemplating international retirement after the ECB supposedly asked him to relinquish Test captaincy, the veteran all-rounder is on the cusp of a surprise return to the playing XI.
Earlier on Sunday (Jun 21), Stokes (Durham) and Atkinson (Surrey) were withdrawn from their respective County Championship games, indicating their recall to the Test side for the Trent Bridge match.
Meanwhile, in Stokes and Atkinson’s absence, England played three debutants in the second Test and lost it by a whopping margin.
"Yeah, at this stage, that's what we're planning on. The rest of the squad will be out later on this afternoon. It's a quick turnaround, so we need to give guys that consistency of message and deliver it appropriately, but we are anticipating that Ben will be back as captain,” McCullum answers on Stokes’ potential return to cricket.
Even though Joe Root led England at the Oval, his interim captaincy tenure seemed to have ended with Stokes’ return as captain looking inevitable.
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‘Backing Stokes but chats are private’
Disclosing how he remained in constant touch with Stokes after that incident, McCullum revealed he tried to be supportive of his team captain during this time but denied giving more details about their chats. He, however, sounded elated with Stokes finding some form with the bat, after scoring 95 in his lone outing for Durham against Northamptonshire – his best score in all of cricket since his Test hundred against India last July.
"People will always have difference of opinion, that's the way things are. People read things differently. I've been speaking to Ben every day since we had the incident, obviously trying to be supportive. I think it's great he was able to play this week and get some runs, and hopefully rediscover some of that form. We know that a fit and firing, and performing at optimum level, Ben Stokes is an asset that every team would like.
"Those conversations with Stokesy, they're private; I won't go into those at all. But people can assess their view of things differently. But I care about Ben and am pleased that he was able to get some game time [for Durham] and a bit of pep in his step as well,” he continued.
