Ben Stokes Determined To Lead England in Ashes Despite Knee Injury: Brendon McCullum
Stokes has won 10 out of 12 matches as England Test captain [Twitter]
England Test coach, Brendon McCullum has stated that despite suffering from a knee injury, Ben Stokes is determined to lead the England side in the highly-anticipated Ashes series.
The England captain bowled only two overs in the second Test against New Zealand, as the ever-aggressive English side came crashing at the hands of determined Kiwis.
Talking about his own injury, Stokes said that it's frustrating, but he hopes the injury recovers ahead of a crucial summer that lies ahead for them.
"Hopefully come the Ashes, I won't have to worry about it," Stokes told BT Sport.
It has been all uphill for the England team ever-since McCullum and Stokes joined hands last summer. England have won 10 out of their last 12 Test matches, and will start as the overwhelming favourites when the Australian team visit their shores in the summer.
Talking to BBC Sports, Baz McCullum talked about Stokes' injury and believes that the skipper will be ready for the Aussies when the series kicks-off
"Stokes is not moving that well at the moment but the skipper writes his own scripts and he doesn't get a better stage to write one than the Ashes," McCullum told BBC Sport.
"Stokesy's knee is just something we have to monitor. He's off to the IPL where there is slightly less demand on his conditioning so hopefully he'll be fine," McCullum told to BT Sport.
McCullum also lauded his former teammate Neil Wagner for his outstanding match-winning performance in the second Test. Despite getting all the criticism, Wagner scalped 4 wickets in the run-chase and was the man of the hour for his side.
"Neil Wagner is one of the toughest that I've come across. Obviously I had the pleasure of captaining them for a long period of time, and now playing against him, you know that he's got a huge heart and he'll find a way when the going gets tough."
With the series concluded, New Zealand awaits the Sri Lankan challenge, while England will have to wait till June to play another Test match.
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