Ben Stokes has spoken for the first time about his exclusion from the second Test against New Zealand on disciplinary grounds, revealing he has apologised to his teammates and was “hurt” seeing Joe Root criticised as a stand-in captain.
The 35-year-old was stood down before the 253-run defeat at the Oval after he and Gus Atkinson broke the team’s curfew following 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 team management, and 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 independent Cricket Regulator – Stokes is now back in his role. Speaking before the third Test at Trent Bridge, the all-rounder tried to move the focus to what is a must-win game.
Asked if he had apologied to team-ates, not least after an inexperienced side 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 affects a lot of people. 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 something you do have to do, as someone who has the responsibility of being a leader in a group.
“It’s all well everything being fine and dandy when it’s all going well, but you need to take responsibility for things as well. 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 at the Oval but suffered his 27th defeat, 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.
“Seeing the effect that I had on Joe from public opinion was hard to see and read from my point of view. 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.”
Stokes declined to go into specifics around breaking the curfew – whether players knew the precise details of the arrangements – but followed the head coach, Brendon McCullum, by stressing their relationship remains strong.
As regards Atkinson, who similarly returns to the side 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. Take my advice: just let time do its thing.’ When you’re going through something like this for the first time, like Gus has done, you don’t really know what it’s going to be like. Even though I know what it is like, it still doesn’t make it any easier.
“He’s the same as me. He said: ‘The most important thing for me and you is getting back into the team and making sure the other team members know that me and you are totally focused on the team and the result this week.’”
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