Ben Stokes determined to take England forward after ‘hardest period’ of captaincy

Ben Stokes has admitted the past three months have been the “hardest period” of his time as England captain but he is adamant the current leadership group can take the Test team forward.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould affirmed hours earlier the positions of Stokes, managing director Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum were safe despite the Ashes debacle.

Key rejected out of hand suggestions Stokes and McCullum had a falling out in Australia, despite the pair offering conflicting messages during a turbulent campaign in which they were soundly beaten 4-1.

But in an impassioned Instagram post, Stokes insisted he does not take his role as Test skipper, which he has held for nearly four years, lightly as he endorsed himself, Key and McCullum to learn from their mistakes.

Addressing England supporters, he wrote: “Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted.

“It has its highs and it has its lows, it makes you want to smile, it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it’s the only thing in your life at times.

“The last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it’s tested me in so many different ways and I’m sure every other captain has gone through this as well.

“Baz, Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.”

England’s decision to have just one warm-up before taking on Australia was fiercely criticised, as was a break in Noosa between the second and third Tests, with reports of excessive drinking by players.

The revelation that white-ball captain Harry Brook was punched by a bouncer the night before he led England in a pre-series assignment to New Zealand led to questions over the culture under McCullum.

A midnight curfew has since been enforced, while the ECB are in the process of searching for a new national selector following Luke Wright’s resignation for family reasons.

Stokes has not played since suffering a groin injury in the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney in January, but is set to turn out for Durham in the County Championship ahead of this summer’s Test programme.

England play three Tests against McCullum’s native New Zealand in June before another trio of matches against Pakistan in August and September.

Stokes added: “I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that….

“I F*****G love cricket, I F*****G love this team, I F*****G love being England captain and I have got so much more to give to this role and I’m so happy that I get to do it with Baz and Rob.

“We all appreciate every single person who supports us. We do what we do for many reasons but one of those reasons is to bring our supporters and fans happiness and a sense of pride and we will aim to do those things as much as we can in the future.

“See you all in June for the start of the Test Match summer.”