England make shock call on McCullum and Stokes' future

Brendon McCullum will remain as England coach despite his side’s 4-1 Ashes disaster down under last summer.

McCullum and his side entered the series full of confidence, but after losing in somewhat embarrassing fashion, many expected changes to be made around the side’s leadership.

Even though the ECB undertook a thorough review of the series loss in January, McCullum has been backed to ‘adapt and evolve’ in his role going forward by the cricket chief Richard Gould.

Alongside McCullum in keeping their jobs are captain Ben Stokes and director of men’s cricket Rob Key.

Gould told reporters on Monday at Lord’s that the ECB is now looking forward to ‘putting things right’ and ‘getting revenge’ with the same leadership trident in the 2027 home Ashes.

“There was a lot of consideration as to what is the right mix of leadership and who do we want and who do we need,” Gould said.

“I think what we’ve seen is a determination from all those involved to adapt and evolve, to understand that there are different ways of doing things and through the disappointment and difficulties of the Ashes to learn from that.

“And so, you know, we’ve got a lot of people, yes, hurt by what went on during the Ashes, but equally determined to now put things right and looking forward to seeking revenge in 2027 (when Australia tour England).”

Taking to Instagram, Stokes admitted that the last three months have been the hardest of his captaincy tenure, but was adamant he has more to give in the role.

“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,” Stokes posted.

“The last three 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.

“I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that I f--ing love cricket, I f--ing love this team, I f--ing 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.”

England next plays Test cricket against New Zealand in a three-test home series beginning at Lord’s on June 4.

They then face Pakistan in August and September in another three-Test series.