Ashes 2015 was a turning point for quite a few English players. Before the series commenced, Australia were perceived as the favourites owing to their superior form in tests. Despite playing at home, not many backed England to do well and regain the urn from the Kangaroos. The series, though, turned out to be a memorable affair, as England powered by some remarkable performances stunned Australia to win the series 3-2.
All-rounder Ben Stokes played a crucial role in that series victory. He scored some crucial runs lower down the order and was more than handy with the ball as he picked up wickets at regular intervals. In his autobiography, The all rounder opened up on the memorable campaign and the feelings within the English camp.
“I loved being at the centre of things,” Stokes wrote. “I still take more joy out of scoring a hundred but I haven’t taken as many five-fers in my career, so I was raring to do it in an Ashes series, and to make that six before Woody delivered the final blow just before midday. To win the Ashes back meant we achieved the main goal of our 2015 summer. When conditions were in our favour we were clinical. When they were not — at Lord’s and in the series finale at the Oval — we were not so good and were defeated by huge margins. But a series victory by any scoreline was what we were after,” he mentioned.
Stressing on the Nottingham test, where Australia were bundled for 60, Stokes called it as an “amazing atmosphere”. “It was developing into an amazing atmosphere. As the wickets tumbled, people around the field were reminding each other, ‘We haven’t won the game yet.’ Of course, we knew we had. There was no chance they were going to come back from this.”
“It was only a matter of when, and that was exciting. I claimed five of the seven wickets to fall on that Friday, yet it still might have been considered a surprise that Cooky ignored the claims of Broad to open the bowling and threw the ball to me and Wood at the start of that historic Saturday,” the all-rounder mentions.