Captain Ben Stokes admits England are under the “highest amount of pressure” since he and coach Brendon McCullum took charge four years ago.
England face a series decider against New Zealand at Trent Bridge from Thursday in the aftermath of the controversy that led to Stokes being absent from the defeat in the second Test.
The all-rounder, 35, and pace bowler Gus Atkinson were made unavailable for the match at The Oval pending an investigation into an incident at a London nightclub. But the pair have since been cleared to return to the England team, with Stokes once again captain.
Stokes, McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key were all backed to stay in their jobs following the dismal 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia.
And defeat by the Kiwis this week would be England’s seventh in nine Tests and leave them with a first home loss in a series of at least three matches since 2012.
“Has the pressure on this team ramped up? Well, this is definitely the highest amount of pressure we’ve been under since me and Baz became coach and captain,” Stokes told BBC Sport.
“That’s fine. How you deal with it is what proves if you’re a good leader or not. What me and Baz have done has been able to accept that this is pretty high pressure, but we know what we need to do is go out there and win games of cricket.”
Stokes was speaking publicly for the first time since he and Atkinson broke England’s curfew and were present when a member of the team’s security staff was struck by a Saracens rugby player.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) found the pair breached “contractual obligations”, yet were blameless for “violent conduct”. Stokes and Atkinson were given a written warning, but no further action was taken after they missed the second Test, and the Cricket Regulator cleared them of wrongdoing.