Sydney, Jan 2 (UNI) Captain Ben Stokes says he cannot imagine “someone else” replacing head coach Brendon McCullum, despite England’s Ashes series defeat in Australia.
Stokes and McCullum united in 2022 and this tour was billed as a defining moment for their leadership, only for England to surrender the series with defeats in each of the opening three Tests.
England won the fourth Test in Melbourne, their first win in this country for almost 15 years, and will finish the series in Sydney from Sunday (23:30 GMT, Saturday).
Stokes and McCullum have contracts until 2027 and both have stated they want to remain in their jobs after this tour.
While Stokes remains England’s best leader and will probably get the opportunity to continue into the home summer, the positions of McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key could come under scrutiny.
“There is no doubt in my mind that me and Brendon are the right people to carry on doing this for the near future,” said Stokes.
Asked if he and New Zealander McCullum come as a partnership, Stokes replied: “I can’t see there being someone else who could take this team from where we are now to even bigger heights.”
This latest defeat extends England’s awful run in Ashes series in Australia – their victory in 2010-11 is their only success in the country since 1986.
Losses down under are often the signal for sweeping changes to the England management – Stokes and McCullum were bought in following a 4-0 defeat four years ago.
“We have not won here since 2010-11 and since that series things have happened because we think people need to change things, but it has not really worked has it?” said Stokes.
“There’s a lot of people who sit above me. Ashes tours in the past haven’t gone well. But if you do what we did four years ago, we’ll just end up back in the same situation,” he added.
