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 series-deciding third Test. new zealand cricket team. Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson missed the second Test after being investigated for breaking the team’s midnight curfew following England’s victory in the opening match. Although they were cleared of any violent conduct, both received written warnings for violating team rules.Speaking ahead of the third Test at Trent Bridge, Stokes said it was his first task to address the team after rejoining the team.“As a captain it was one of the first things I had to do,” Stokes told reporters.The England captain admitted that the nightclub controversy affected more than just him. He said that it became an important moment for many young players making their Test debut during the second match.He said, “It affected Joe, it affected the team, it affected people outside the playing environment. There’s no doubt it affected the players who were making their debuts. It should have been all about them, but unfortunately circumstances beyond their control took precedence over their big day of making their debut for England in Test cricket.”In Stokes’ absence, England, led by Joe Root, lost the second Test by 253 runs and New Zealand leveled the series 1–1.Stokes said leadership means admitting mistakes and apologizing when needed.“It would be foolish and naive of me not to acknowledge that and not pay attention to it. That’s all well and good when everything is going well and going well, but you also need to take responsibility for things. If you are the one who needs to take that responsibility, then you need to be big enough and man enough to take it on your shoulders, look everyone in the eye and apologize. That’s what I did,” he said.The 34-year-old player also dismissed reports of differences with England coach Brendon McCullum.“You don’t plan to do something like this together in a professional environment. In the early stages, Brendan and I were talking pretty much every day.“Maybe in the future we can look back on this and move forward, it has made us stronger. This rift, this growing apart, we have certainly not fallen apart.”With the series tied at 1–1, Stokes said that both he and Atkinson were now solely focused on helping England win the final Test.“The main thing about me coming back, Gus coming back is that we focus on the main objective, which is cricket this week.“The series is tied 1-1, we have one game left and the importance of the outcome of this game is something we need to focus on,” he concluded.