‘You have to apologise’: Ben Stokes breaks silence on nightclub controversy after England return

England’s Ben Stokes (Mike Egerton/PA via AP) NEW DELHI: England captain Ben Stokes has admitted that he apologized to his teammates after returning for the third Test of the series against the New Zealand cricket team. Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson missed the second Test after being investigated for allegedly breaching the team’s midnight curfew following England’s win in the opening match. While they were cleared of any violent behavior, both received written warnings for violating team rules.Before the third Test at Trent Bridge, Stokes said addressing the team was one of the first things he did after rejoining the team.“That was one of the first things I had to do as captain,” Stokes told reporters.The England captain admitted that the nightclub controversy had not only affected him. He said it overshadowed an important moment for several young players who made their Test debuts during the second match.“It’s affected Joe, it’s affected the team, it’s affected people outside the playing environment. It’s undoubtedly affected the guys making their debuts. It should have been all about them, but unfortunately a situation beyond their control took precedence over their big day debuting for England in Test cricket,” he added.England, led by Joe Root in the absence of Stokes, lost the second Test by 253 runs as New Zealand leveled the series at 1-1.Stokes said leadership means owning mistakes and apologizing when necessary.“It would be stupid and naive not to admit it and deal with it. It’s all well and good, it’s all fine and dandy when things are going well, but you also have to take responsibility for things. If you’re the one who has to take that responsibility, you have to be big enough and manly enough to take it on your shoulders and look everyone in the eye and say whatever apology you needed,” I said apologetically.The 34-year-old also dismissed suggestions of a rift with England coach Brendon McCullum.“You don’t plan on going through something like that together in a professional setting. Me and Brendon talked almost every day in the beginning.”“Maybe we’ll look back on it in the future and go, that toughened us up. That rift, that drifting away, we definitely didn’t take it.”With the series tied 1-1, Stokes said he and Atkinson are now focused solely on helping England win the final Test.“The main thing about me being back and Gus being back is that we’re focused on the main objective which is the cricket this week.“The series is 1-1, we have one game left and the importance of the result of this game is the only thing we have to focus on,” he concluded.