{"id":249538,"date":"2026-06-22T13:02:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/stokes-saga-humiliates-mccullum-and-exposes-englands-captaincy-succession-crisis-mark-ramprakash\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T13:02:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T13:02:47","slug":"stokes-saga-humiliates-mccullum-and-exposes-englands-captaincy-succession-crisis-mark-ramprakash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/22\/stokes-saga-humiliates-mccullum-and-exposes-englands-captaincy-succession-crisis-mark-ramprakash\/","title":{"rendered":"Stokes saga humiliates McCullum and exposes England\u2019s captaincy succession crisis | Mark Ramprakash"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I<\/span>f we learned one thing at the Oval last week, it is that this England team really needs Ben Stokes. So it came as a relief when, a couple of hours after the second Test against New Zealand ended in heavy defeat<\/a>, he and Gus Atkinson were exonerated<\/a> by the England and Wales Cricket Board after an investigation into their celebrations following victory in the first Test. But the governing body found itself in a process with no perfect outcome, and if the one it has ended up with is not the disaster it flirted with a week ago when Stokes was apparently considering retirement, it is still embarrassing.<\/p>\n

Its handling of the incident was understandable, given the public drunkenness that marked the players\u2019 trip to Noosa<\/a> during the Ashes, and Harry Brook\u2019s altercation with a nightclub bouncer<\/a> in Wellington before that. There was a real lack of transparency around Brook\u2019s incident, which was not revealed to the public until a newspaper discovered and reported it, and that led to a kneejerk reaction when the ECB thought there had been a repeat. All three incidents could have been handled better \u2013 it just keeps finding different ways of getting it wrong. At least no one can accuse it of not taking this one seriously, and if it hasn\u2019t truly established its competence it has established that all players are accountable, which will help to set a standard of acceptable behaviour.<\/p>\n

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In the end it seems there was confusion about the curfew and when it applied that extended even to the captain, who was one of the people who conceived it. That\u2019s really humiliating, most of all for the coach, Brendon McCullum<\/a>. Coaches don\u2019t get to go on the field and lead by example. They have to get it right off the field, to nail planning and preparation, to get the right staff around the team, and to communicate with absolute clarity. The coaches I\u2019ve worked with of international standard pride themselves on getting those things right. McCullum has admitted his rules were not communicated clearly either in person or in writing, and that reflects poorly on him.<\/p>\n

As, of course, does the fact that after four years with him in charge his team\u2019s planning, preparation, mindset and strategy were all exposed on the field in Australia, while their culture was exposed off it. Reflecting on my international career, there were times when our culture wasn\u2019t right and times when it was, but it was never publicly exposed and scrutinised in the way it is now.<\/p>\n