The return of Ben Stokes is one of four changes to England’s XI for the third Test
The return of Ben Stokes is one of four changes to England’s XI for the third Test
Ben Stokes has apologised to his team-mates before his return as England captain for the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.
Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson were made unavailable for the second Test, which ended in a 253-run defeat, pending an investigation into a breach of the team’s midnight curfew and an incident in a London nightclub following England’s victory in the series opener.
Both players have been recalled to the XI for the third Test, which starts on Thursday, after being found blameless of “violent conduct” by the Cricket Regulator.
A disciplinary hearing by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), however, found they had “breached contractual obligations” and have been issued with a written warning.
Joe Root captained the side in Stokes’ absence, with Sonny Baker, Jordan Cox, and James Rew making their debuts in a much-changed side.
“That was one of the first things I had to do as a captain,” Stokes said, when asked if he had apologised to his team-mates.
“You look at a situation and it affects more than just myself. It affected Joe, it affected the squad, it affects the people outside the playing environment.
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“It no doubt had an effect on the lads who were making their debut. That should have been all about them but unfortunately a situation out of their control took precedence over their big day of making their debut for England in Test cricket.
“It would be stupid and naive for me not to acknowledge that and address that. And it’s something that you do have to do as someone who’s got the responsibility of being a leader within a group.
“It’s all fine and well everything being fine and dandy when it’s going well, but you need to take responsibility for things as well. If that’s you that needs to take that responsibility, you need to be big enough and man enough to be able to take that upon your shoulders, look everyone in the eye, and apologise how you need to apologise. That’s what I did.”
Scrutiny fell on Stokes’ relationship with head coach Brendon McCullum throughout the investigation, with McCullum non-committal about the 35-year-old’s future as captain when speaking ahead of the second Test and raising eyebrows when he repeatedly mentioned his “worry and concern” for the all-rounder.
But the pair, who previously had to deny their relationship was strained during the 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia, have reaffirmed their alliance, with Stokes adamant the pair “haven’t drifted apart” the day after McCullum shut down any talk of a rift with his “good friend”.
“You don’t plan on going through something like this together in a professional environment,” Stokes said. “Me and Brendon were talking pretty much every day in the initial period.
“Maybe in the future we’ll look back on this and go, this did bring us tighter. This rift, this drifting apart, we certainly haven’t drifted.”
Asked to explain McCullum’s “worry”, Stokes added: “Friends care for each other, don’t they? It was a hard thing for him to do to come up here and speak about that. I knew what he was meaning. He cares about me, he cares about members of the team as well.”
Stokes went on to praise the “love and support” he received from his team-mates, cricket fans, and the media throughout the investigation as well as revealing he made an “active decision” to keep in regular contact with Atkinson.
Acknowledging this was “not my first rodeo” having previously made unwelcome headlines following an incident outside a Bristol nightclub in 2017, he urged Atkinson to “let time do its thing” and reassured the 28-year-old “eventually everything will be okay”.
While not “hiding away” from the events of the past fortnight, he reiterated that the attention of both players is now firmly on the cricket pitch.
“The main thing about me being back, Gus being back, is for us to focus on the main objective which is the cricket this week,” Stokes said.
“There’s been a lot going on, there’s no hiding away from that. But it’s making sure that we try our best to get the team’s focus onto the most important thing, which is what we need to go out there and do.
“It’s 1-1 in the series, we’ve got one game left, and the importance of the result of this game is the one thing we need to concentrate on.”
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