The England Cricket Board (ECB) removed Ben Stokes from captaincy and dropped him from the Test squad, along with Gus Atkinson, following the nightclub incident. The apex board is still investigating the matter and its details haven’t been released yet. Stokes and Atkinson were involved in an incident after England’s win over New Zealand in the first Test of the three-match series. Joe Root has replaced Stokes as the captain for the second Test match. As the fans wait for a word on Stokes’ future, Brendon McCullum has finally reacted to the ongoing controversy.
Speaking to the media, the England head coach said that he was worried for the England Test captain and is in constant touch with him. “Our concern is with Ben, our concern is handling that situation, making sure we look after him, that he feels supported by us and in communication with us. Those other things will work out down the line,” McCullum said.
“I’m worried about Ben. That’s it. I’ll leave it at that. I’m in constant communication with him, which is great. I care for him immensely. Whatever he is working through at the moment, it will be because Ben thinks that’s right for dealing with what he’s feeling at the moment. So my concern is Ben. He’s very entitled to make his own decisions around that stuff and I encourage him to keep doing stuff like that because if it gives him some joy and some Satisfaction, then that’s good,” he added.
Jordan Cox and Jofra Archer were included in the Test squad for the second game. The second game is scheduled to be played from June 17 to 21 at the Kennington Oval in London.
England lead 1-0
England kicked off the three-match series with a 115-run in the series opener at the Lord’s Cricket Ground. Ollie Robinson delivered a Player of the Match performance he took a five-fer in NZ’s first innings. He scored 29 in England’s second innings and followed up with two wickets. Robinson hadn’t played a Test since February 2024 before his heroics against NZ.
England squad for 2nd Test: Joe Root (Captain), Rehan Ahmed, Jofra Archer, Sonny Baker, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Emilio Gay, James Rew, Ollie Robinson, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue
