Ben Stokes apologises to England teammates: backlash against Joe Root ‘hurt me’

Ben Stokes has apologised for his disciplinary absence from the second Test and said he and Brendon McCullum were under ‘the highest amount of pressure’

Ben Stokes has apologised to his England teammates after missing the second Test for disciplinary reasons and admitted this is “highest amount of pressure” he and Brendon McCullum have been under as captain and head coach.

Stokes and Gus Atkinson were both stood down before the 253-run defeat at the Oval, having broken the team’s midnight curfew after their victory in the first Test at Lord’s. It triggered a fortnight of acrimony in English cricket, with suggestions of a rift between Stokes and the management, as well as a threat to retire.

Having been through a disciplinary process that resulted in a written warning from the England and Wales Cricket Board – but no case to answer in the eyes of the Cricket Regulator – Stokes is back in charge. His focus, he claimed, is now solely on the third Test and securing the win that would ease pressure on the set-up.

Speaking before the series decider Stokes was asked if he had apologised to teammates, not least after an inexperienced side featuring three debutants were beaten heavily in his absence. Stokes replied: “Of course [I apologised]. That was one of the first things I had to do as a captain.

“You look at the situation and it affects more than just myself. It affected Joe Root, the squad, the people outside the playing environment. It no doubt had an effect on lads who were making their debut. That should have been all about them.

“Unfortunately a situation outside of their control took precedence over their big days, making their debut for England in Test cricket. It would be stupid and naive of me not to acknowledge and address that.

“It’s all well everything being fine and dandy when it’s all going well, but you need to take responsibility for things. You need to be big enough and man enough to take that upon your shoulders and look everyone who it has affected in the eye and apologise the way you need to apologise. That is something that I did.”

On Root, who returned to the captaincy after four years in the ranks and drew criticism for his tactics en route to his 27th defeat as England captain, Stokes said: “It was hard to see the reaction that he got. That’s something that hurt me because I’m very, very close with Joe.

“It shouldn’t take away the courage that Joe showed in taking that on that week. It would have been very, very easy for him to have said: ‘No, I don’t need this.’ But yet again he put the team first that he’s done on multiple occasions.”

McCullum expressing concerns about Stokes during his initial absence from the set-up – heavily hinting at a mental-health issue – drew a confused response at Durham when the all-rounder turned out for the county last week.

Like the head coach a day earlier, Stokes stressed their relationship remains close and may even be galvanised by the past fortnight. But he similarly declined to commit to anything beyond the third Test that starts in Nottingham on Thursday, knowing how much is at stake after six defeats from their past eight outings.

He said: “Playing for your country comes with pressure regardless. Has the pressure on this team ramped up? Well, this is definitely the highest amount of pressure we’ve been under since me and Baz became coach and captain. That’s fine. It’s how you deal with it that proves if you’re a good leader or not.”

Stokes declined to go into specifics around the late night at the Rex Rooms in Chelsea, including whether players knew the precise details of the team curfew. He would also not be drawn on reports that he threatened to retire from international cricket during his initial exchanges with the England management afterwards.

He said: “Was I a bit frustrated by the process? Yes. Has the process finished? Yes. Are me and Gus back where we want to be? Yes. The support I felt from the fans of not just English cricket but cricket in general was a big moment. It’s something I don’t want overlooked: the reaction from teammates, fans, and even you lot [the media] to a certain extent. That was quite nice.”

As regards Atkinson, who similarly returns to the XI after experiencing the first off-field issue of his Test career, Stokes said: “I spoke with Gus quite a lot over the period. I said to him: ‘It’s not my first rodeo, being in something like this, mate.’ It is tough, hard to go through, but it will be all right.”

On regaining some form with the bat via a blistering 95 for Durham, Stokes added: “I just cleared my mind of everything and made it simple: just go out there and react to the ball. Before that, I was thinking about too much before the ball actually came down and then not what you need to do. Maybe being on the front pages for the wrong reasons could be good for my cricket.”