&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "‘Massive Overstatement’: Ben Stokes rubbishes rumours of rift with coach McCullum")
England Test captain Ben Stokes has rubbished rumours of a rift with his team's head coach Brendon McCullum, calling it a 'massive overstatement.' Stokes and McCullum pioneered Bazball cricket since coming together as coach and captain in 2022. While they have been in close alliance, differences in their approach were on display during the horrendous away Ashes. After England conceded the five-match Test series (1-4) to Australia, reports of a potential tiff between the two began surfacing.
The two men backed each other in public at the end of the away Ashes, with Stokes reiterating that position following media reports of a post-Ashes review that had revealed tensions between them.
"Saying we weren't aligned, I think, is a massive overstatement," Stokes said in an in-house interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board published Tuesday. "When you're in a position of leadership along with someone else, if anyone thinks that you're always going to agree on everything, then it's just impossible."
England are back in Test action in June, against New Zealand, before taking on Pakistan at home as well. Stokes said there would be a change in how he worked with McCullum as the team looks to return to winning ways ahead of the 2027 Ashes in England.
"I'm very confident in mine and Brendon's ability to be able to work together, because we've done it for such a long period of time now, but work together in a slightly different way," he said. "The main point of me and Brendon is our alignment towards winning things and making this team as good as they can be. That's always been the thing since we started. It might just look a little bit different now to how that operates -- on the back of four years working together.
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"Hopefully, we'll still be together at the end of 2027, winning what we want to win."
Meanwhile, Stokes is currently recovering from a facial injury after being struck by a stray ball in pre-season training, but is expected to lead England in the first Test against New Zealand at Lord's on June 4.
(With inputs from AFP)
