Ben Stokes has expelled talks of any problems with head coach Brendon McCullum, calling the rumors a ‘massive overstatement’. People started buzzing about a possible rift within these two after England lost the Ashes 4-1 in Australia earlier this year.

Some reports claimed Stokes and McCullum clashed during the post-series review and criticized each other’s ways of working. But Stokes has stepped up and made it clear that those stories just aren’t true. He says their relationship is strong, and they’re on the same page.

Disagreements are a good thing, believes Ben Stokes

Stokes actually thinks disagreements between him and McCullum are a good thing. He believes a team needs honest conversations to succeed, not just people nodding along to keep the peace. Sure, he admits they might see things differently sometimes, but both want the same end result. After some healthy debate, they always find common ground.

Ben Stokes said, “To me, that just isn’t a healthy environment for sport, in particular, where everyone just agrees with everyone or says yes to the person up there. You need debate. You need not arguments, but you need discussions. Then you end up getting to the place you both want to end up getting to.”

“As similar as me and Brendon are, we’re also dissimilar in other areas as well. But the thing we both want is to be as successful as we possibly can. How we get to being successful might be the same here, but slightly differs here – but we will always be able to end up in the same place by having these discussions,” the English star added.

Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum stood by each other in public after the Ashes, but their comments to the media didn’t quite match up. That only stirred up more talk about a possible rift between them. Word got out that McCullum’s position was on the line after Stokes filed a report blaming team management for the Ashes loss.

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