Stokes describes past 3 months as hardest period of captaincy
England Test captain Ben Stokes has described the past three months, which involved a difficult Ashes campaign, as the “hardest period” of his leadership journey while reiterating his commitment to rebuild the side with coach Brendon McCullum.
After the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that Stokes, McCullum and managing director Rob Key would continue in their roles despite England’s 4-1 drubbing in the Ashes, the 34-year-old shared an emotional open letter on social media on Monday.
“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,” Stokes said in post with a picture of himself, Key and McCullum on Instagram.
“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,” he wrote. Stressing that lessons have been learnt from the setbacks, Stokes asserted he is committed to to rebuilding the side alongside McCullum and Key. “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 tour of Australia was marred by poor planning, substandard performances, selection mistakes and player misbehavior off the field including concerns over consumption of alcohol.
Reflecting on the personal toll and motivation, Stokes added that he still has a lot to give as a leader.
“I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that... I FG love cricket, I FG 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.”
Stokes, who hasn’t played since the fifth Ashes Test earlier this year in January, also thanked supporters for their backing during a challenging period and vowed to repay their faith.
“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,” Stokes said. England will begin their home season on June 4 with the Test series against New Zealand.
