Coach Brendon McCullum believes the England captaincy has come at the right time for all-rounder Ben Stokes, admitting that he feared initially that the two are too similar to succeed together.
McCullum, 40, was appointed the coach of the England Test team in the second week of May. By then, Stokes had been named as England’s captain when Joe Root stepped down at the beginning of the summer after five years in office.
Before appointing Stokes, there was a fear of shifting the burden of more responsibility on the talismanic all-rounder, especially when he came back from a mental health break less than a year ago.
McCullum told SENZ Radio, “I think about where Stokes is in his career, and his aspirations as a leader and where he thinks his team needs to go, it beautifully reflects on his personality and for me as well.” is aligned.”
“The danger was probably that we would be too similar. But I think we both have such motivation to improve and improve the side that we give and take in the areas that we need, and we try to And make sure we surround ourselves with leaders within the group, both on the field and in. We also support employees who can fill in some of the gaps where we may not be as strong.
“So understanding that we’re not even the perfect product, but I think being able to bounce off each other and push each other into danger, sometimes makes you skeptical. But if you To be able to put that filtering system in place between both the captain and the coach and to stay on task with what we’re trying to achieve and the direction we want to go, I think it’s going to help you to make sure gives a better chance of being consistent with that message,” he said.
England currently face New Zealand in the third and final match of the three-match series at Headingley, Leeds, having won the first two matches.
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