England coach Brendon McCullum has admitted that Ben Stokes' captaincy wasn't at his best during their Test series loss to Pakistan, attributing it to his hamstring injury and the frenetic recovery that followed.
Stokes recovered from his hamstring injury - sustained in the Hundred - to return for the second Test, taking back the captaincy from fill-in Ollie Pope. Pakistan won both the last two Tests, achieving their first home Test series win since 2021.
McCullum was sympathetic of Stokes' injury, and praised him for working hard to bounce back quickly, but admitted the after-effects of the laborious recovery had a negative effect on the England captain's decision-making.
“Look, with Stokesy that injury was quite a significant injury," McCullum said a day after Pakistan's series win. "He had to work incredibly hard to get back. As the driven athlete he is, he’s all-in when he does something. He had to put in a lot of graft there and subconsciously it can… not cloud things, but maybe you’re not quite as screwed down as you can be in terms of decision-making.
“That’s natural, as long as you learn from that and make sure next time you’re presented with that situation you’re able to block out the noise and stay crystal clear in the moment."
