ENGLAND captain Ben Stokes has played down suggestions of a breakdown in his relationship with head coach Brendon McCullum but admits their partnership will “look a little bit different” this summer.

Stokes and McCullum have performed a tight double act since taking the reins together in 2022, but appeared to take different paths during the humbling Ashes defeat this winter.

While Stokes adopted a grittier, more conservative method as the series progressed – delivering some harsh words to his team along the way – McCullum continued preaching ultra attacking cricket.

Both men spoke in support of each other at the end of the crushing 4-1 loss, but it has been reported that the post-Ashes review showed up signs of tension.

Rob Key, managing director of men’s cricket, insisted during a media appearance at Lord’s last month that there had been “no big bust-up” between the influential pair, and Stokes has now given his verdict.

“Saying we weren’t aligned, I think, is a massive overstatement,” the 34-year-old said in an in-house interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“When you’re in a position of leadership along with someone else, if anyone thinks that you’re always going to agree on everything, then it’s just impossible.

“To me, that isn’t a healthy environment for sport, in particular. You need debate. 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. We agree 95 per cent of the time on things, but those 5 per cent things that we might have different views on, we talk about it between each other and then we end up getting to the place where we want to get to.”

Test series against New Zealand and Pakistan await this summer, before attentions turn to Australia once again – with the chance to reclaim the urn on home soil in 2027.

Stokes is confident of getting things right but indicated there would be tweaks in the way business is conducted around the team.

“I’m very confident in mine and Brendon’s ability to be able to work together, because we’ve done it for such a long period of time now, but work together in a slightly different way,” he said.

“The main point of me and Brendon is our alignment towards winning things and making this team as good as they can be. That’s always been the thing since we started. It might just look a little bit different now to how that operates – on the back of four years working together.

“Hopefully we’ll still be together at the end of 2027, winning what we want to win.”

Stokes is currently recovering from a facial injury after being struck by a stray ball in pre-season training with Durham, and is set to play two Championship games in May before returning to lead England in their first Test of the summer at Lord’s on June 4.