LONDON, May 3: Selecting allrounders to captain England’s Test cricket team hasn’t always worked so well in the past.
Ben Stokes is sure he can make it work.
Stokes accepted the biggest job in English cricket last week, sparking concerns that the captaincy will weigh heavy on a player of whom so much is asked already.
After all, two great England allrounders – Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff – struggled after taking on the role. England failed to win any of the 12 Test matches played under Botham’s captaincy from 1980-81 and Flintoff won two of his 11 Tests as captain from 2006-07 – a period that included a 5-0 whitewash Down Under in the Ashes.
Stokes, who is the first allrounder to become captain since Flintoff, dismissed the relevance of any comparisons.
“I have had to live with the tag of Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham since I was 18,” Stokes said on Tuesday upon being presented as England’s latest Test captain, “but I have always maintained I have never tried to be Andrew Flintoff or Sir Ian Botham. I am Ben Stokes.”
The question of workload – physical and mental – is particularly relevant to Stokes, though.
The 30-year-old Stokes missed most of 2021 to protect his mental health and focus on his well-being, while also recovering from two finger operations.
Now he will be in the full and permanent glare of the media, with scrutiny on his form and his decisions in the middle as well as his actions on and off the field.
He believes his experience last year helps him in that respect, rather than reflects any weakness.
Stokes said he was proud to have recovered from that low moment in his life, to now be captain.
“I have made it very obvious that back then I felt like my career was looking like it was going to be over,” Stokes said, “but every experience that I have gone through, I have learnt from. It’s how you handle those and come back from them
Being in charge of a Test team looking to bounce back from winning just one of its last 17 matches might impact on his availability for the one-day international and Twenty20 teams, with Stokes insisting: “I know I have a huge role here getting this test team back to winning ways and I will be putting all my efforts and energy into doing that.”
So, will that affect his availability in the Indian Premier League, too? “Test cricket,” Stokes said, “is my No. 1 priority.” (AP)
