Stokes 'can't see' future as captain without McCullum

Ben Stokes says he cannot envisage a future as England men's Test captain without Brendon McCullum at the helm, strengthening the head coach's position after a botched Ashes campaign.

Victory in Melbourne - a first Test victory in Australia since January 2011 - has given the England team and management some grace after spurning the urn in the opening three Tests. But there will be necessary fallout, on and off the field, given the optimism before the Ashes were lost in just 11 days.

Since the terminal defeat in Adelaide, McCullum and managing director Rob Key have held a similar line in the face of heavy scrutiny; both unsure of their futures but willing to continue until told otherwise. The decision on their respective positions will ultimately be in the hands of ECB chief executive Richard Gould and chair Richard Thompson, who will look to ascertain how England's best shot at an overseas Ashes win since 2010-11 came so spectacularly awry.

McCullum has a degree of insulation given the size of his contract, which has included the white-ball head coach role since the start of 2025, and would require a low seven-figure sum to break. England also have a T20 World Cup next month.

Stokes' backing, however, particularly the nature of it, is arguably most important of all. Having said unequivocally that he would like to continue in the aftermath of England losing the Ashes, the allrounder clearly believes the right people are in the right roles to build further. And he reiterated his appetite to do so, citing the gap between this series and England's next Test assignment, at home to New Zealand on June 4, as the right amount of time and space to brainstorm with McCullum over improvements.

An overall record of 26 wins and 17 defeats, Stokes believes, is an indication of their collective good work so far, despite not winning four of their five-match series, two each against Australia and India, in that period. He cedes the last 12 months - four wins and five defeats from 10 Tests in 2025 - have not been good enough.

It is worth noting Stokes and McCullum have ECB contracts which take them through to the end of the 2027 home Ashes. That is particularly prescient for Stokes, who extended his central contract at the end of last summer, and may well call time on his international career when that deal expires.

Options beyond him for captaincy are, at this juncture, thin, with vice-captain Harry Brook - groomed to take over, and also England's limited overs captain - not quite ready. Rarer still, apparently, is a head coach Stokes feels can assist in his vision for the next stage of this England team.

"Look, I've thoroughly enjoyed the time that I've worked with Brendon," said Stokes. "I can't see there being someone else who I could take this team [with], from where we are now, to even bigger heights.

"We've put so much time and effort into getting this team to where it was from when we first started, and now we're in a situation or position where we know we want to get even more out of the group, get even more out of individuals, and we feel we've done a very good job at getting everyone to the position we're in right now.

"So, for us as captain and coach, when we do have the time off, like we've done every single time between series, we put our heads together and go 'what is it that we think we need to go to the next level?'

"Because, being perfectly honest, you look back at how things have gone over the last, let's say, year - the results and the consistency hasn't quite been there from the first two-and-a-half to three years that we were in charge. So, when you start seeing a trend and something that is not what you want, when you have that time off between series like we do after this - from January and I think June - it's a long time for us to get things going again in the right direction.

"That's all we've ever wanted to do, is constantly push the guys and not wanting to stand still. We've obviously got some things to go away and speak about and try and get the boys pushing even further forward than we managed to achieve since me and Brendon first took over the job."

The "heights" Stokes speaks of do seem to have levelled out, though England could yet take further consolation in Sydney for a 3-2 scoreline. That, though, would flatter them, and not change the fact that this will be Stokes' third overseas Ashes defeat.

Each of his previous ones have resulted in hierarchical change. Andy Flower left his post as head coach after the 5-0 defeat in 2013-14, and there were a raft of changes in 2021-22, with director of cricket Ashley Giles and head coach Chris Silverwood sacked. Joe Root held on for the tour of West Indies, which England lost 1-0, before stepping down as captain in April, paving the way for Stokes.

The incumbent skipper cautioned against repeating the clearing of the decks that led him to the job four years ago: "Ashes tours in the past haven't gone well. But if you do what we did four years ago, we'll just end up back in the same situation."

Of course, much of Stokes' support for McCullum and, by proxy, Key is based on how this all began. Key has been unlike previous managing directors or directors of cricket, often acting as an umbrella for administrative distractions, allowing McCullum and Stokes to focus exclusively on cricketing matters.

With more freedom, Stokes and McCullum have sought to build a team environment based on their own playing experiences. One that liberates cricketers to do things their own way. It is clear, over the last two months, that this group could do with more structure.

Their professional relationship remains strong, with McCullum a useful crutch for Stokes, particularly on a tour as long as this one, even though at times their messages have diverged. Indeed, the lessons from this series may be for themselves rather than exclusively on personnel and preparation.

Stokes admitted he has struggled because of the relentless nature of this Ashes compared to his previous two tours. Having warned the squad ahead of the trip that it would be unlike anything they have experienced before, even Stokes has found that to be the case. Social media has exacerbated that pressure.

"I can't sit and lie and say it's been a walk in the park like some of the series feel, like they have been back in England, because you're used to the conditions, you're in your home and can nip back whenever you want between games. Out here you don't get the chance to do that.

"Especially at the start of the tour, everything was just on top of us as a team, as a group. Although at the start we expected it, we'd planned for it, and I've done a few tours here, but it's been even higher than any other tour I've been on.

"Obviously the last one was because of Covid, but my first one, I was young and naïve and didn't really realise what was going on outside of training or the cricket field. This one's just, yeah… And the world's changed as well.

"Social media, media in general - it's changed a lot and [it is] impossible not to see anything these days. So when you put on the pressure of trying to perform for your country in a huge series plus all of the other stuff that comes with a tour of Australia, it's been a tough one, but you don't expect everything to be easy... I've got pretty thick skin towards it all and it's just impossible not to see it. The only way to do it is just throw your phone in the river.

"A lot of people talk about it and say they don't read it, don't see it, don't look for it. But honestly, it's just impossible not to. Everywhere you go, with the algorithms of everything these days, your phone listens to you talk about one thing and you flick through Instagram and all of a sudden you see an advert for that. It's just ridiculous. It's just impossible."