Ben Stokes says the past three months have been “the hardest period” of his England captaincy, and backed the current regime to take the team forward.
The 34-year-old posted an open letter to fans on social media after it was announced that he, head coach Brendon McCullum and England team managing director Rob Key would remain in their posts despite a 4-1 Ashes defeat over the winter.
England’s Test tour of Australia was blighted by poor planning, substandard performances and off-the-field issues including concerns over alcohol consumption.
Despite this, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) resisted changing personnel after a review of the tour.
Earlier on Monday, Key said there was “no bust-up” between Stokes and McCullum during the Ashes despite the pair offering conflicting messages during the series.
Stokes subsequently said, in a post with a picture of himself, Key and McCullum, the existing England leadership group have the necessary “passion and desire” as he looked to the future.
“Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted,” Stokes wrote.
“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.
“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 [McCullum], Rob [Key] 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.”