London, March 24 -- England skipper Ben Stokes took to social media, describing the aftermath of a disastrous 4-1 loss to Australia in the away Ashes as the "hardest period of his captaincy journey" but vowed to bring "happiness and a sense of pride" for the fans in the Test summer this year.

Stokes and McCullum, who had refreshed the English batting group with a fearless, attacking and positive 'Bazball' approach to cricket, keeping the Ashes series at home and away in mind, failed to win in any of the series, drawing 2-2 at home in 2023 and facing a humiliating 1-4 loss in Australia. While there were still a plenty of positives to take away from the drawn series at home, England's batting methodology was exposed to be extremely vulnera...