Ben Stokes has admitted the past three months have been the “hardest period” of his time as England captain but he is adamant the current leadership group can take the Test team forward.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould affirmed hours earlier the positions of Stokes, managing director Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum were safe despite the Ashes debacle.

Key rejected out of hand suggestions Stokes and McCullum had a falling out in Australia, despite the pair offering conflicting messages during a turbulent campaign in which they were soundly beaten 4-1.

But in an impassioned Instagram post, Stokes insisted he does not take his role as Test skipper, which he has held for nearly four years, lightly as he endorsed himself, Key and McCullum to learn from their mistakes.

Addressing England supporters, he wrote: “Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted.

“It has its highs and it has its lows, it makes you want to smile, it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it’s the only thing in your life at times.

“The last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it’s tested me in so many different ways and I’m sure every other captain has gone through this as well.

“Baz, Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success.”