Last three months have been the hardest period of my captaincy journey: Stokes

Ben Stokes reflects on his challenging captaincy period, emphasizing commitment to rebuilding the England cricket team alongside Brendon McCullum.

England Test captain Ben Stokes has described the past three months, which involved a difficult Ashes campaign, as the "hardest period" of his leadership journey while reiterating his commitment to rebuilding the side with coach Brendon McCullum.

After the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) confirmed that Stokes, McCullum and managing director Rob Key would continue in their roles despite England’s 4-1 drubbing in the Ashes, the 34-year-old shared an emotional open letter on social media on Monday.

"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 post with a picture of himself, Key and McCullum on Instagram.

"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," he wrote.

A post shared by Ben Stokes (@stokesy)

Stressing that lessons have been learnt from the setbacks, Stokes asserted he is committed to to rebuilding the side alongside McCullum and Key.