Brendon McCullum, Ben Stokes Not on Same Page After England's Ashes Humiliation: REPORT

Ashes 2025-26: Looks like things are going from bad to worse for the England cricket team after their humiliating 4-1 loss against Australia in the recently-concluded Ashes series in Australia. 

English media, which labeled Stokes and McCullum as the true game-changers in 2022, have always worked well in tandem and have never spoken out of tune. But, unfortunately things seem to changing. 

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Stokes-McCullum Rift

As per the Telegraph, Stokes wanted extra training leading up to the day-night Test in Brisbane; however, McCullum wanted to take it easy and not put more pressure on the players. 

In fact, it is understood that there was a dressing-room rift as well after the Australian tail wagged in Brisbane. McCullum was gutted with Stokes for not bowling enough in that game. Soon after the Brisbane game, things started spilling out. 

While the English captain said that Australia is no place for “weak men”, asking his players to step up and show fight, McCullum - On the other hand - claimed the team “overtrained”.

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What's Next For England? 

Interesting to see what happens next in England cricket, will there be wholesale changes to the Test set-up or will the board continue to back McCullum and Stokes? 

The 4-1 debacle is bound to hurt the English players. In the World Test Championship, England are in the seventh spot after three wins in 10 games. 

Australia with seven wins from eight games are at the top of the table. While Australia are absolutely in the race to make the final of WTC, England are almost out of the contention for a spot in the finale clash.