From Newsgroup: uk.sport.cricket




Stokes is saving McCullum's coaching job.


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https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/ashes-5th-test-ben-stokes-can-t-see-captaincy-future-without-brendon-mccullum-as-coach-1517784

Stokes 'can't see' future as captain without McCullum

His words strengthen head coach's position after a botched Ashes campaign


Ben Stokes says he cannot envisage a future as England men's Test
captain without Brendon McCullum at the helm, strengthening the head
coach's position after a botched Ashes campaign.

Victory in Melbourne - a first Test victory in Australia since January
2011 - has given the England team and management some grace after
spurning the urn in the opening three Tests. But there will be necessary fallout, on and off the field, given the optimism before the Ashes were
lost in just 11 days.

Since the terminal defeat in Adelaide, McCullum and managing director
Rob Key have held a similar line in the face of heavy scrutiny; both
unsure of their futures but willing to continue until told otherwise.
The decision on their respective positions will ultimately be in the
hands of ECB chief executive Richard Gould and chair Richard Thompson,
who will look to ascertain how England's best shot at an overseas Ashes
win since 2010-11 came so spectacularly awry.

McCullum has a degree of insulation given the size of his contract,
which has included the white-ball head coach role since the start of
2025, and would require a low seven-figure sum to break. England also
have a T20 World Cup next month.


Stokes' backing, however, particularly the nature of it, is arguably
most important of all. Having said unequivocally that he would like to continue in the aftermath of England losing the Ashes, the allrounder
clearly believes the right people are in the right roles to build
further. And he reiterated his appetite to do so, citing the gap between
this series and England's next Test assignment, at home to New Zealand
on June 4, as the right amount of time and space to brainstorm with
McCullum over improvements.

An overall record of 26 wins and 17 defeats, Stokes believes, is an
indication of their collective good work so far, despite not winning
four of their five-match series, two each against Australia and India,
in that period. He cedes the last 12 months - four wins and five defeats
from 10 Tests in 2025 - have not been good enough.

It is worth noting Stokes and McCullum have ECB contracts which take
them through to the end of the 2027 home Ashes. That is particularly
prescient for Stokes, who extended his central contract at the end of
last summer, and may well call time on his international career when
that deal expires.

Options beyond him for captaincy are, at this juncture, thin, with vice-captain Harry Brook - groomed to take over, and also England's
limited overs captain - not quite ready. Rarer still, apparently, is a
head coach Stokes feels can assist in his vision for the next stage of
this England team.

"Look, I've thoroughly enjoyed the time that I've worked with Brendon,"
said Stokes. "I can't see there being someone else who I could take this
team [with], from where we are now, to even bigger heights.

"We've put so much time and effort into getting this team to where it
was from when we first started, and now we're in a situation or position
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.

"So, for us as captain and coach, when we do have the time off, like
we've done every single time between series, we put our heads together
and go 'what is it that we think we need to go to the next level?'

"Because, being perfectly honest, you look back at how things have gone
over the last, let's say, year - the results and the consistency hasn't
quite been there from the first two-and-a-half to three years that we
were in charge. So, when you start seeing a trend and something that is
not what you want, when you have that time off between series like we do
after this - from January and I think June - it's a long time for us to
get things going again in the right direction.

"That's all we've ever wanted to do, is constantly push the guys and not wanting to stand still. We've obviously got some things to go away and
speak about and try and get the boys pushing even further forward than
we managed to achieve since me and Brendon first took over the job."



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