No hiding place as England again drink in last chance saloon

How many times can England drink in the last chance saloon? At 2-0 down in the home Ashes of 2023, this regime may have crumbled had England not won the third Test at Headingley. Surely someone would have carried the can if the away Ashes had been lost 5-0, a clean sweep avoided when England scraped a win in Melbourne. What if Sam Curran had not defended 10 runs in the final over against Nepal to avoid an all-timer of a shock at the T20 World Cup? Here we are again. It is not certain a loss in Nottingham will result with a head on a spike, though the noise that was deafening in the aftermath of the Ashes will be amplified again. How many defeats are too many? How much chaos is too much? When can a reset not be reset? Stokes was honest and almost emotional when he spoke on Wednesday, describing what he had been through in the past two weeks. If he looked flustered, he had just come from more than an hour batting in the nets. Some noticed the skipper only referred to his time as captain in the short term, with lots of mentions of "this week". He also said he loves being an England player and loves being captain, so it feels unlikely that a departure is imminent. Once again, Stokes was adamant there is no issue between him and head coach Brendon McCullum, echoing what McCullum said on Tuesday. Perhaps we must take that at face value. Both have said they are "good mates". …