Ben Stokes did not dress it up. Three heavy defeats to start the Ashes hurt, the Melbourne victory only softened things around the edges, and the gap to England’s next Test – New Zealand at Lord’s on 4 June – already feels both a blessing and a nagging wait. What Stokes cannot imagine, though, is facing that stretch without Brendon McCullum beside him.
Key facts first – England surrendered the urn in 11 grim days, then finally won a Test in Australia for the first time since 2011. McCullum, head coach across red and white-ball cricket, is tied to a lucrative deal that runs through to 2027. Managing director Rob Key is still weighing up lessons learned. The final say on personnel rests with ECB chief executive Richard Gould and chair Richard Thompson. Money comes into it: removing McCullum would cost something in the low seven figures, and there is a T20 World Cup next month. All that means the simpler option, for now, is continuity.
Stokes leant into that idea. “Look, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the time that I’ve worked with Brendon,” he said. “I can’t see there being someone else who I could take this team [with], from where we are now, to even bigger heights.” The captain was adamant the partnership still works. Their record together – 26 wins against 17 defeats – reads well enough, though Stokes admitted results over the last 12 months (four wins, five losses) do not.
His logic is straightforward: the project began in mid-2022 when England were flat. Since then, scoring rates have leapt, crowds have stayed onside and players such as Harry Brook and Josh Tongue have flourished. The downside – two Ashes series and two trips to India without a trophy – is staring everyone in the face. Yet Stokes believes the raw materials for genuine progress remain unchanged.
“We’ve put so much time and effort into getting this team to where it was from when we first started,” he continued. “Now we’re in a situation where we know we want to get even more out of the group, get even more out of individuals, and we feel we’ve done a very good job at getting everyone to the position we’re in right now.”
The numbers back up part of that. England’s run-rate under McCullum hovers around 4.5 an over – rapid by Test standards – and the side have chased 250-plus five times. But, and it is a sizeable “but”, consistency has slipped. Bowling plans have sometimes appeared one-note, and top-order collapses remain familiar.
Key says an internal review is ongoing, focused on selection depth, bowling workloads and whether the batting approach needs a tweak rather than a full rewrite. “We’re not about ripping things up,” he said last week, “but equally we can’t pretend the first three Tests in Australia were good enough.”
Stokes, McCullum and Key all have contracts through to the home Ashes of 2027. Stokes extended his deal only last summer and has hinted he may call time on international cricket when it sunsets. Captaincy alternatives look thin for now. Brook, the vice-captain, is widely seen as the heir but, at 26, perhaps needs another year or two leading Yorkshire and England’s white-ball sides.
If Stokes did step back, the coaching question would become more pressing, yet the captain’s current stance offers McCullum an additional layer of protection. Former skipper Alastair Cook, speaking on BBC TMS, noted: “When the captain is this unequivocal, boards usually listen. They’ll still ask hard questions, but it does shift the dynamic.”
England’s players disperse this week. County cricket, the IPL and rest blocks await. McCullum and Stokes plan to use video calls – the modern equivalent of the old selection meeting – to thrash out bowling combinations and scenarios for the New Zealand series. A fit Ollie Robinson, for instance, would change the balance, while Rehan Ahmed’s leg-spin is likely to earn more exposure.
The task is neatly simple and complicated all at once: tighten processes without ditching the spirit that made England entertaining again. As Stokes put it, “So, for us as captain and coach, when we do have the time”, the pair intend to map out the next phase rather than dwell too long on Adelaide’s bruises.
There is work to do, no question, but right now Stokes is clear – any future worth chasing includes McCullum.
