England captain Stokes says focus only on winning series after tumultuous two weeks

LONDON, June 24 : England's returning captain Ben Stokes said his focus is solely on winning the series-deciding test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge after a tumultuous fortnight in which he was left out after he and bowler Gus Atkinson broke a team curfew.

Stokes was cleared to resume in his role on Sunday following investigations by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the Cricket Regulator into an incident in a nightclub on June 8 after England beat New Zealand at Lord's to go 1-0 ahead.

In his absence England suffered a heavy defeat at The Oval with batsman and former skipper Joe Root as stand-in captain.

Addressing the media ahead of the third test, Stokes said he was concentrating on securing a series win, and played down any cooling of his relationship with head coach Brendon McCullum.

"There's been a lot going on, there's no hiding away from that," Stokes, who took over from Root as captain in 2022, said.

"This has been something that has happened and has obviously taken a lot of attention away from the series. But I want to make sure that my focus is where it needs to be.

"I'm here as captain of this team and all I'm trying to do is get a team focused on winning the series this week."

Stokes said he had apologised to his team mates for the distractions the investigation had caused.

"You need to be big enough and man enough to take that upon your shoulders, and look everyone who it has affected in the eye and apologise the way you need to apologise," he said.

"That is something that I did. It affects more than just myself. It affects a lot of people. It affected Joe Root, the squad, the people outside the playing environment. It no doubt had an effect on lads who were making their debut."

Stokes and Atkinson