Ben Stokes plays down talk of McCullum disagreement but plans ‘different’ path to success

Ben Stokes has moved to play down suggestions of a disagreement between himself and Brendon McCullum, insisting he and the England head coach remain aligned despite an Ashes defeat that, at times, suggested otherwise.

In a video released by the England and Wales Cricket Board on Tuesday, the England Test captain stressed that he and McCullum agreeing with each other all the time would be “unhealthy”. They continue to share the same overall vision for the team, he added, but things will look “different” this summer.

Stokes said: “As similar as me and Brendon are, we’re also dissimilar in other areas as well. But the thing we both want is to be as successful as we possibly can. How we get to being successful might be the same here, but slightly differs there – but we will always end up in the same place by having these discussions.

“We agree 95% of the time on things, but those 5% things that we might have different views on, we talk about it between each other and then we end up getting to the place where we want to get to. Agreeing on every single thing, that’s just impossible. Saying we weren’t aligned, I think, is a massive overstatement.”

Stokes was publicly keen that McCullum be retained as head coach in the wake of the winter’s 4-1 Ashes defeat, even if reports suggested the pair went on to criticise each other during the ECB’s internal review. McCullum kept his job but it is clear that the governing body now expects greater professionalism from the team.

The pair never fell out on tour but it was hard not to watch the Ashes and conclude that they had gone their separate ways tactically. After three and a half years spent encouraging batters to be aggressive, Stokes pivoted at 2-0 down by suddenly demanding that his players put a higher price on their wicket.

The upshot was a confused performance during the series-sealing defeat in Adelaide, where batter-friendly conditions that England would typically have attacked were met with unusual circumspection. McCullum was privately frustrated by the philosophical gear shift but chose not to question his captain publicly.

Despite this latest public relations push, how the team now approaches its cricket is the big question for visits by New Zealand and Pakistan this summer. Tours to South Africa and Bangladesh follow next winter – plus a one-off Test in Melbourne to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the format – before the home Ashes in 2027.

Stokes added: “I’m very confident in mine and Brendon’s ability to be able to work together, because we’ve done it for such a long period of time now. But work together in a slightly different way.

“The main point of me and Brendon is our alignment towards winning things and making this team as good as they can be. That’s always been the thing since we started.

“It might just look a little bit different now to how that operates – on the back of four years working together. We still want to win everything, and we still want to give the guys the best chance that they possibly can of being as good as they can be.”

Stokes, 34, is expected to start his season when Durham play at Worcestershire from 8 May. The all-rounder was struck by a stray ball during a net session in February, forcing him to undergo surgery on a broken cheekbone.