{"id":739251,"date":"2026-06-16T02:37:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T02:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739251\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T02:37:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T02:37:10","slug":"bewildered-mccullum-shares-anger-over-stokes-nightclub-incident-as-fresh-concerns-revealed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/739251\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Bewildered\u2019 McCullum shares anger over Stokes nightclub incident as fresh concerns revealed"},"content":{"rendered":"

England coach Brendon McCullum said he felt \u201cbewildered, on to angry, on to kind of gutted\u201d upon finding out about Ben Stokes and Gus Atkinson\u2019s nightclub incident.<\/p>\n

England captain Stokes and fast bowler Atkinson will miss the second Test against New Zealand at The Oval starting Wednesday after they broke the team\u2019s midnight curfew and were involved an incident with a rugby player following victory in the first Test at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n

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In his match eve press conference, McCullum admitted to feeling a range of emotions as a result of the ordeal.<\/p>\n

With the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Cricket Regular investigating the matter<\/a>, the pair will sit out this week\u2019s Test and are away from the England squad.<\/p>\n

Stokes trained with county side Durham over the weekend and is likely to play in their next four-day match against Northamptonshire, starting Friday, despite some suggestions he may retire off the back of the incident<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Right now, however, McCullum stressed that he was most concerned about Stokes\u2019 wellbeing. <\/p>\n

England captain Ben Stokes with coach Brendon McCullum after winning the 1st Rothesay Test Match between England and New Zealand at Lord’sSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hear about this was incredibly gutting,\u201d McCullum said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re in roles like this you have to start trying to separate the action from the man.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery quickly, though, talking to Ben in particular, 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, whilst not overlooking the fact they have not lived up to the standards we have set for ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou 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 stage, in particular Ben. That is very much where my mind is at, my worry for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, England\u2019s managing director Rob Key was furious and did not rule out stripping Stokes of the captaincy permanently.<\/p>\n

McCullum was unwilling to go into details on whether such a call would be made on the 35-year-old, however.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to go through a process,\u201d he said. \u201cI look at the time, the last four years I\u2019ve worked intimately with Ben. I\u2019ve seen Ben be an unbelievable captain. I\u2019ve seen him at his absolute best as a captain, his best as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s helped shape this environment over the last four years. He\u2019s had some incredible success doing it and I feel very lucky that during that time we have worked so closely together. What will be will be down the line. Those decisions are not for now.<\/p>\n

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England captain Joe Root, coach Brendon McCullum and National Selector Marcus North during a nets session at The Kia Oval on June 15, 2026Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\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. For me I\u2019m just making sure I\u2019m checking in with him. That\u2019s where things sit at the moment.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We\u2019re going to] keep communicating, checking in daily. We have spoken every day since this incident has unfolded. There\u2019s been a range of emotions Ben has gone through. I am not going to share those with you. That\u2019s out of respect for our relationship, and the confidentiality of it as well. I care about Ben and want to make sure we are doing the right thing by him. Ultimately doing the right thing by the team also.\u201d<\/p>\n

The incident also comes off the back of reports of McCullum and Stokes\u2019 relationship being strained during England\u2019s 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.<\/p>\n

The pair were previously inseparable, having started their tenures as captain and coach at the same time in 2022, but a rift allegedly emerged down under as England\u2019s tour spiralled out of control.<\/p>\n

Those close to the England camp insisted that they patched things up before the start of their home summer and McCullum said that there were no issues between the pair despite the latest point of tension.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think the [coach-captain] relationship is strained at all,\u201d he said. \u201cOur lines of communication are very open.<\/p>\n

\u201cFour years together is a long time in a really punchy, pressure-cooker. But we\u2019ve always had the best intentions of English cricket at the core of what we are trying to achieve and the decisions we\u2019re trying to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight 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

Jordan Cox and James Rew of England during a nets session at The Kia Oval on June 15, 2026 in London, England.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, England have handed debuts to Jordan Cox and Sonny Baker for the second Test against New Zealand, while James Rew could also make his first appearance in the Oval clash.<\/p>\n

Despite winning the first Test at Lord\u2019s, England selectors have been forced to make a host of changes just over a week later.<\/p>\n

Captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson were left out of the England squad after breaching the team\u2019s midnight curfew while celebrating the Lord\u2019s victory.<\/p>\n

Pace bowler Ollie Robinson, who took seven wickets at Lord\u2019s, has pulled out due to a knee injury, while Rew is ready to step in if wicketkeeper Jamie Smith\u2019s partner gives birth in the next couple of days.<\/p>\n

Fresh from scoring 204 for Essex in his first County Championship outing for 11 months, Cox has been drafted in for Stokes.<\/p>\n

Baker bolsters the pace attack alongside Jofra Archer, who missed the first Test due to his Indian Premier League commitments with Rajasthan Royals.<\/p>\n

Fast bowler Matthew Fisher was also included for his second Test appearance — his first in more than four years — as spinner Shoaib Bashir dropped out.<\/p>\n

Sonny Baker of England during a nets session at The Kia Oval on June 15, 2026 in London, England.Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Joe Root will captain England, more than four years after being replaced in the role by Stokes.<\/p>\n

Root got the nod to take over from Stokes on a temporary basis instead of vice-captain Harry Brook.<\/p>\n

Brook was involved in an altercation outside a nightclub in Wellington before a one-day international against New Zealand in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt became pretty obvious that after talking to both Joe and Harry, that Joe was the right person to do it,\u201d McCullum said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s actually excited, because while he gave it everything he could last time around, he feels he\u2019s in a much better place now to be able to do that job.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a few changes. Whilst there\u2019s been a bit of chaos and it\u2019s been difficult to navigate through the week, I look at that line-up we have this week and it\u2019s super exciting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m quietly confident we\u2019re going to see some exciting cricket.\u201d <\/p>\n

England XI: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root (captain), Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (or James Rew), Jordan Cox, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Matthew Fisher, Sonny Baker<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England coach Brendon McCullum said he felt \u201cbewildered, on to angry, on to kind of gutted\u201d upon finding…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":739252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-739251","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\/739251","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=739251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/739252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}