Did Stokes Push For McCullum's Dismissal?

PL on McCullum's sacking

ECB chief executive Richard Gould says it was results that cost McCullum his job

Baz and the boys had a sanctioned drink the night before he was sacked as Test coach. McCullum gave the side permission to celebrate a T20 series win over India, less than 24 hours before he was given his marching orders from the key job.

And now England finds itself without a Test coach or a Test captain. Losing seven of your last nine Tests can do that to you, but this was bigger than just performances. This is a cultural reboot, an admission that the grand free-wheeling experiment that was Bazball under Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, Batman and Robin, had gone awry amidst a string of failures, increasing controversy and internal acrimony.

Rob Key, the svengali, survives, but the relationship between McCullum and Stokes, once so strong, had turned septic according to those who knew and has cost both.

There was some thought that Stokes’ self-immolation during the third Test would save McCullum, but the captain appeared to throw his arms around his old mate soon after lighting the match. He didn’t deserve to go out alone, and in some ways he’s assured that he does not.

The scorch marks will be visible on the walls of the English dressing room to come.