Stokes backs McCullum but accepts England need fresh approach after Ashes loss

Ben Stokes says he wants to carry on as England captain and has backed coach Brendon McCullum despite concluding the Ashes series with a 4-1 defeat to Australia.

England lost the fifth and final Test of a deeply disappointing series at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Thursday and the loss will do little to dampen the criticism of the way the team approached the campaign.

In particular, critics have pointed the finger at the high-risk “Bazball” approach to the game along with questions about the levels of preparation for the tour, which saw England quickly fall to an insurmountable 3-0 deficit.

The 34-year-old all-rounder, though, said he wanted to remain skipper for the upcoming home Test series against New Zealand and Pakistan.

“I’m definitely keen as anything to carry on,” he said.

“I love having a challenge thrown at me and at the moment the challenge is getting the team back to where we once were in terms of the performances we were delivering.”

Asked about McCullum’s position, Stokes gave his full backing to the New Zealander, who has a contract until after the 2027 home series against the Australians and said he expected him to remain in his role.

“I do expect him to be [in charge] but again it’s not my decision,” he said. “I’m sure if it ever ... comes to it, I’ll be asked my opinion and he’ll be getting my full support and backing.

“I absolutely love working with Baz. He’s a great man and he’s a very, very good coach. You know there’s more that goes on behind the scenes than he’ll ever give away and than he’ll ever let out.”

Critics, such as former England captain Michael Vaughan, have said that McCullum will need to accept that his approach has failed and agree to a different style for the team.

Asked about being given such instruction from his bosses at the ECB, the coach was far from welcoming of the idea.

“I am not against assistance but have a firm belief in how to get the best out of these players,” McCullum told the BBC. “I will look at it individually and say, ‘what could I have done better?’ Am I for being told what to do? Of course I am not. But at the same time I’m not thinking there won’t be areas to improve.”

Stokes appeared sympathetic to McCullum’s stance.

“Me and Brendon, we know how to run a dressing room, we know how to try to give the lads the best possible chance of being as good as they can be,” he said.

I think we are now playing against teams who have answers to the style of cricket we have been playing over quite a long period of time now.

—  Ben Stokes

“Everyone’s got an opinion on how things should be run and stuff like that. So it is always tough. But I would never try to tell someone who runs a huge business what they should do because I haven’t any expertise in that whatsoever.”

While quick to back his coach, Stokes was frank in his assessment of England’s recent form, which includes a drawn series at home to India, suggesting opponents might have worked out Bazball.

“I think we are now playing against teams who have answers to the style of cricket we have been playing over quite a long time now,” he said. “I think in the first couple of years, teams found it difficult to come up with anything to combat the way we played, but now teams are, I think, coming up with plans that are standing up to a certain style of cricket that we want to play.

“When you come up against a team like Australia out here, who know how to play cricket here, and you are adding to your own downfall, then you’re going to end up losing the series 4-1 like we have done.”

Stokes accepted England needed to rethink their approach to win the big series.

“When a trend is happening, that’s when you do need to go back to the drawing board and make some adjustments,” he said.