3 min readMar 24, 2026 12:31 PM IST
On a day that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) gave extensions to England Test captain Ben Stokes, coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key, Stokes has said that the past three months have been the “hardest” of his captaincy reign.
“Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted. It has its highs and it has its lows, it makes you want to smile, it makes you want to cry,” Stokes said in a post on Instagram with a picture of himself, Key and McCullum. “It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it’s the only thing in your life at times. The last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it’s tested me in so many different ways and I’m sure every other captain has gone through this as well.”
The under-fire England captain reaffirmed his commitment to take the England team forward after learning from past debacles.
“I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that… I FG love cricket, I FG love this team, I F***G love being England captain and I have got so much more to give to this role and I’m so happy that I get to do it with Baz and Rob,” Stokes added.
“Baz, Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.”
The emotional open letter on social media from the 34-year-old Stokes comes on the back of a turbulent Ashes series in Australia where the hosts won the five-Test series by a 4-1 scoreline.
There was also controversy aplenty in the Ashes series, particularly after England opener Ben Duckett was caught on camera drunk. ECB had investigated reports that players had been drinking excessively during a break from the Ashes series in the beach town of Noosa. The England squad had spent four nights on the Queensland coast between the second and third Test.
