NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) 鈥� England cricket coach Brendon McCullum insists his relationship with 鈥済ood friend鈥� and captain Ben Stokes hasn’t been strained by the of the past two weeks.
Stokes was for last week’s second test against New Zealand, along with fast bowler Gus Atkinson, amid an investigation that found they 鈥渂reached specific contractual obligations鈥� on a night out after the victory in the first test at Lord’s.
Stokes and Atkinson are back in the team for the third and deciding test at Trent Bridge starting Thursday 鈥� the series is tied at 1-1 鈥� and a report in British newspaper The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday said there was a rift between Stokes and the team leadership, which includes McCullum.
That was denied by McCullum, who said he had a 鈥済reat catchup鈥� with Stokes for more than an hour Tuesday morning.
鈥淗e looks ready to go, enthusiastic about the week, and from our point of view it鈥檚 nice to have the band back together,鈥� McCullum said.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been through a lot together as a working pair in leadership positions here in English cricket,鈥� the New Zealander added. 鈥淚n the end, we both want what鈥檚 right and what鈥檚 best for English cricket, and we鈥檙e crystal clear on the direction we want this team to take.鈥�
McCullum never publicly backed Stokes to return as captain while the investigation was ongoing and said in light of the post-first test night out that included a trip to a nightclub.
Since then, Stokes has played for his county team, Durham, and hit 95.
Now, McCullum said Stokes looked 鈥渙utstanding鈥� and 鈥渇antastic.鈥�
鈥淚 think we had a process we had to go through, things needed to be ticked off, and we鈥檝e arrived at this stage now, and we鈥檙e excited to see him back leading us on,鈥� he said.
England before New Zealand tied the series with at The Oval.
Stokes replaces Jordan Cox in the team and Matthew Fisher is the pacer giving way to accommodate Atkinson’s return.
In the other change by England for the third test, Jamie Smith is back from paternity leave and takes over from James Rew as wicketkeeper.
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England team: Ben Duckett, Emilio Gay, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Ben Stokes (captain), Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Josh Tongue, Shoaib Bashir.
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