England skipper Ben Stokes calls Ashes aftermath "hardest period of captaincy", but he has "got so much more to give"

England Test captain Ben Stokes described the recent Ashes and its aftermath as the “hardest period” of his captaincy tenure. He further issued his support for coach Brendon McCullum and Director of Cricket Rob Key in an open letter to supporters, posted on his official social media page.

The ECB announced recently that McCullum, Stokes and Key would continue in their roles after a dismal Ashes series away from home, which saw the Three Lions comprehensively beaten 4-1 by a dominant Australian side. Stokes himself fared poorly in the series, picking up 15 wickets at 25.13, scored 184 runs in 10 innings, as he hobbled off in the last Test with a groin injury, while also failing to manage an inexperienced England attack throughout the series.

"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. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it's the only thing in your life at times,” Stokes shared on a post on Instagram, written to the supporters of the England cricket team.

Reports of a rift between Stokes and McCullum emerged, with the Kiwi wanting the England team to show more conviction in their “attacking methods”, while Stokes increasingly believed Australia had “answers to the style of cricket” they were playing. Rob Key immediately denied the rumours of a bust-up. Stokes has further iterated his support for Key and McCullum in his post.

"The last three 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. 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.

"I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that…. I F*****G love cricket, I F*****G 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.

"We all appreciate every single person who supports us. We do what we do for many reasons but one of those reasons is to bring our supporters and fans happiness and a sense of pride and we will aim to do those things as much as we can in the future. See you all in June for the start of the Test Match summer," the star all-rounder concluded.

The captain-head coach duo's next assignment with the England Test team is a three-match home Test series against New Zealand, which is set to commence on June 4.