Ben Stokes has lost his power struggle with McCullum and Key

However, when they were kept on, and in McCullum’s case not necessarily with Stokes’s backing, the wheel turned against the England captain. He lost the arm wrestle with the coach and trust must have evaporated between the two over this. McCullum’s power base has been strengthened and part of the relaunch last week was to shed the casual image and project him as the man in charge with several media appearances in the lead-up to the Lord’s Test, as well as after the game when in the past he only spoke if the team lost.

“We’ve been through a hell of a lot over the last six months and I’ve seen a coach who has evolved dramatically actually, and he’s been outstanding at the way that he’s led this side as a coach,” said Key on McCullum. When asked if Stokes can carry on, his response was much cooler: “I think we’ve just got to let that play out to be honest. The decision as I look forward is about what’s best for the team and what’s best for Ben. It’s not just about what’s happened on Sunday night. It’s about what is the best thing moving forward and that’s where we need the time because that’s a big decision.”

There was worse to come, too, which left little doubt that the mood had hardened against Stokes. “We have spent a lot of time over the past few months trying to make sure we’re going to regain their [the public’s] trust. I’m not sure we’ve done that. In fact, I know we haven’t done that with what’s happened here, which is such a shame because what I saw the team do out on the field was such a good win against an excellent New Zealand team.

“All the things that we have been working on, every single thing, whether it’s within the dressing room, within that side, all the work we’ve tried to do to reconnect the game – it feels like we’ve just been smashed in the face with that. That is incredibly frustrating.”

The problem for Key is that he runs a team without leaders. Nobody can seriously see Joe Root as England’s captain beyond these two Tests against New Zealand, even if he is the only adult in the room. Root’s runs are England’s lifeblood and burdening him with captaincy once again at 35 threatens what he does best.

Harry Brook has shown he lacks the maturity to be Test captain and is not trusted to lead the side against the tourists next week as well as handling questions about team discipline after his own recent behaviour.

James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Woakes are all retired. The most senior bowler is Ollie Robinson and England are not sure they can trust him for a third or fourth spell on a flat pitch let alone anything else.

Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope, two players with more than 60 caps to their names and who have both captained England at times, were casualties of the Ashes tour. Ben Duckett was spoken about in terms of leadership a year ago but lost form and was filmed drunk and incoherent in Noosa, during the Ashes.

Jacob Bethell is only 22 and the days are long gone of plucking the best captain out of county cricket or the chairman of selectors appointing his godson – as Peter May did with Chris Cowdrey. There could not be a worse case study in succession planning than this England Test team.

As for a potential alcohol ban, something threatened by Key, that seems impractical, especially considering the head coach himself does not hide the fact he likes a drink. Key is a non-drinker and most of the squad are responsible professionals. It is not that they have a drinking culture, more that they have a binge-drinking culture, meaning that when they do go for it, usually at the end of a match or on designated days off, they can go too far.

Stokes will need support and, if he stands down, transitioning him back into the side will not be straightforward. First of all, he should address what happened on Monday and not let his employers fill the void.

His captaincy could be over, but England are not good enough to leave him behind as a player. His batting may have fallen apart, but his bowling is exceptional and England need him to balance the team. Maverick cricketers such as Stokes are capable of magic even in the dying days of their careers. Ian Botham had one last hurrah in Australia in 1986-87, as did Andrew Flintoff on one leg in the 2009 Ashes. Stokes dreamed of something similar in the 2027 Ashes but that now feels a long way off.

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