{"id":738593,"date":"2026-06-15T19:29:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/738593\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T19:29:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T19:29:09","slug":"brendon-mccullum-concerned-for-ben-stokes-after-england-captain-dropped-england-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/738593\/","title":{"rendered":"Brendon McCullum concerned for Ben Stokes after England captain dropped | England cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brendon McCullum has spoken of his concern for Ben Stokes\u2019s wellbeing as the England captain sits out the second Test against New Zealand this week as a result of his breaking the team curfew<\/a> after the first match in the series at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The fallout from Stokes and his teammate Gus Atkinson deciding to spend the early hours of Monday morning last week at a Chelsea nightclub rather than at the team hotel has dominated the period between the two matches.<\/p>\n

McCullum, the England head coach, admitted he initially had a strong negative reaction to learning about the curfew breach, but he said this quickly changed. He has spoken to Stokes every day since the story broke, and said those conversations had left him feeling worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first found out about it I was slightly bewildered, if I\u2019m being honest,\u201d McCullum said. \u201cThen you go through a range of emotions. You go from being bewildered, on to angry, on to kind of gutted \u2013 from the progress which we talked about over the last six months and what we\u2019re trying to do with the side, and some of the improvements we\u2019ve tried to make, which includes the standards we want to set for ourselves, to hear about this was incredibly gutting.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery quickly, through talking to Ben and also Gus, my overall emotion turned to worry and concern, for Ben in particular. Since then it has been about how we support these guys, while not overlooking the fact they have not lived up to the standards we have set for ourselves. You can\u2019t walk past that, and we\u2019ll deal with that in time and through a process. For me it\u2019s very much about how we support these guys through the next stages. That\u2019s very much where my mind is at.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though it has been reported that Stokes\u2019s actions had led to a cooling of his relationship with McCullum, the New Zealander said it was \u201cnot strained at all\u201d.<\/p>\n

The head coach said: \u201cWe\u2019ve spoken every day since this incident has unfolded. There\u2019s been a range of emotions Ben has gone through. I\u2019m not going to share those with you. That\u2019s out of respect for our relationship, and the confidentiality of it as well \u2026 Right now I have a lot of respect, a lot of care for Ben, and I\u2019m doing what I can to support him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Root (right) will make a temporary return as captain for the second Test in the absence of Ben Stokes (left). Photograph: Henning von Jagow\/Action Plus\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Stokes has returned to training with Durham and could play for them in their game against Northamptonshire which starts on Friday. There is also a remote possibility that he could return for England in the third and final Test at Trent Bridge next week.<\/p>\n

McCullum said Stokes had been \u201can unbelievable captain\u201d and that a decision on his future in that role<\/a> would not be hurried. \u201cThose decisions are not for now,\u201d he said. \u201cThe concern is making sure Ben is fine. We need to make sure we look after him, rally around him, and in time we\u2019ll get on to those sorts of decisions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m worried about Ben. That\u2019s it. I\u2019m in constant communication with him. I care for him immensely. Whatever he is working through at the moment, it will be because Ben thinks that\u2019s right for dealing with what he\u2019s feeling at the moment. So my concern is Ben.\u201d<\/p>\n

Quick GuideEngland team for second Test v New ZealandShow<\/p>\n

England team for second Test v New Zealand<\/p>\n

England XI: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root (capt), Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk)*,\u00a0Jordan Cox, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Matthew Fisher, Sonny Baker.<\/p>\n

*James Rew is on standby to replace Smith if Smith’s partner goes into labour.<\/p>\n

Thank you for your feedback.<\/p>\n

McCullum continues to believe that the curfew initiated<\/a> after England\u2019s on-pitch failures and off\u2011field issues during the Ashes tour last winter is worthwhile. \u201cI never want to kill the joy. I think it is vitally important that you celebrate your successes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been involved in this sport and been living this life for the best part of 20 years and some of my most enjoyable moments have been sitting around after going to war with your teammates and looking them in the eye and realising that you have left it all out there.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut [you need to] understand we have some obligations and responsibilities to uphold.<\/p>\n

When breaches happen, I think it\u2019s important you don\u2019t look past that. Because to me, that can ruin a culture, that can ruin a side, if you\u2019re not prepared to be strong enough in those circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brendon McCullum has spoken of his concern for Ben Stokes\u2019s wellbeing as the England captain sits out the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":738594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-738593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=738593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/738593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/738594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=738593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=738593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=738593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}