England captain Ben Stokes remains convinced that he and head coach Brendon McCullum deserve the opportunity to continue shaping England’s long-term future. England will walk out at the Sydney Cricket Ground for the fifth and final Ashes Test, hoping to finish the series with pride. The victory in the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne ensured England avoided the whitewash, but England's leadership has come under immense criticism following the series defeat. Meanwhile, a win for England in Sydney would help them finish Ashes 3-2. 

"Look, I've thoroughly enjoyed the time that I've worked with Brendon. I can't see there being someone else who I could take this team [with], from where we are now, to even bigger heights," Stokes said as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

"We've put so much time and effort into getting this team to where it was from when we first started, and now we're in a situation or position where we know we want to get even more out of the group, get even more out of individuals, and we feel we've done a very good job at getting everyone to the position we're in right now. So, for us as captain and coach, when we do have the time off, like we've done every single time between series, we put our heads together and go 'what is it that we think we need to go to the next level?' he said.

Stokes, reflecting on the past results, noted that the goal is to get things back in the right direction. 

"Because, being perfectly honest, you look back at how things have gone over the last, let's say, year - the results and the consistency hasn't quite been there from the first two-and-a-half to three years that we were in charge. So, when you start seeing a trend and something that is not what you want, when you have that time off between series like we do after this - from January and I think June - it's a long time for us to get things going again in the right direction."