Stokes shuts down talk of a rift with McCullum after Ashes tensions

LONDON (AP) — England captain Ben Stokes says any suggestion he and coach Brendon McCullum are not aligned “is a massive overstatement.” Were there disagreements between them during their Ashes debacle in Australia? Yes. Was it any different than normal? No. Stokes and McCullum have been in lock step since 2022 and they crashed and burned when they lost to Australia 4-1 last winter. Both men supported the other after being humbled but the Ashes review threw up signs of tension. Stokes wanted to play more conservatively while McCullum wanted to double down on all-out attack. Since the Ashes, Stokes has kept a low profile. When he and McCullum kept their jobs last month following the Ashes review, he posted on social media that he was happy to continue working with McCullum and the post-Ashes period had been the hardest period of his captaincy. The captain has used an in-house interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board to address his relationship with McCullum. “Saying we weren't aligned, I think, is a massive overstatement,” Stokes said. "When you're in a position of leadership along with someone else, if anyone thinks that you're always going to agree on everything then it's just impossible. "To me, that isn't a healthy environment for sport, in particular. You need debate. You need discussions. Then you end up getting to the place you both want to end up getting to. “As similar as me and Brendon are, we're also dissimilar in other areas as well. 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.” Stokes hasn’t played in the County Championship since breaking his cheekbone in a freak accident in preseason training with Durham. But he's set to return in May before New Zealand arrive in June for a test series. Pakistan follow this summer, and Australia come to England in 2027. As was recommended in the Ashes review, England's leadership will tweak what it does with the team and Stokes has welcomed it. “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,” he said. "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. “Hopefully we'll still be together at the end of 2027, winning what we want to win.” \\\_ AP cricket: