Ben Stokes was appointed England’s Test captain weeks after Joe Root stepped down. The team has won one out of their last 17 Tests and are placed ninth on the World Test Championship table. They face New Zealand in a three-match Test series, starting June 2. 

Brendan McCullum, who was recently appointed as England’s Test coach, said that in Stokes, the team has a strong leader. The former Kiwi captain is expected to kickstart the revival process for English cricket as he did with the Black Caps a decade ago. 

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Talking about his approach, McCullum said that he wants to provide the right environment for the players. 

“I certainly don’t coach technically, I understand the technique obviously but for me it’s more around tactics and man-management and trying to provide the right environment for the team to try and go out there and be the best versions of themselves,” the England coach told Sky Sports at Lord’s Stadium on Friday. 

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“I think with Stokesy as captain we’ve got a really strong leader, a ‘follow me’ type of captain and so I think my job will be to try and ensure that we’re consistent with a lot of our messaging,” McCullum added. 

Stokes has already confirmed that his predecessor Root will play a key role for the team going ahead. He and McCullum will also concentrate on the growth of the youngsters coming into the side. 

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“I’ll look after the guys inside the environment as well and try and allow them to really grow at a speed which they might not have got to previously, so it’s a big challenge. I think for me red-ball cricket has always been the pinnacle of the sport. If you look at where the game sits currently, it’s probably on a bit of a downward trend and to me the nation that can really change that is England — because of the tradition of Test cricket here in England and I guess the fan following and the support that it gets in this country,” McCullum added.