In the last couple of years, England has emerged as a ruthless force in Test matches and their aggression has been hard to ignore. A major reason behind England’s revival and change of spirits has been mainly due to the presence of all-rounder Ben Stokes.
Stokes alone has infused a sense of optimism and confidence within the side and that has been reflected by the results achieved by England for quite a while now.
The most striking aspect about Stokes remains in his match winning abilities, a quality which former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff too possessed in abundance. Thereby, whenever Stokes does well, comparisons are bound to be made with the former all-rounder. Statistically though, after 35 Tests, Stokes is way ahead of Flintoff in all departments.
This was mentioned by the 2005 Ashes Man of the Series recently and Flintoff admitted that Stokes was far better match winner than what he was. When quizzed about this, Stokes admitted to being flattered and emphasized on his will to win more games for England.
“I’ve always said that when the comparisons started flying at me that I’m not trying to be anyone else except myself,” Stokes said. “Some of the spells Flintoff produced when playing for England were amazing to watch. But I really don’t know what to say.”
“As long as I can produce the moments for the team that swing it our way and it means we’re going to win, that’s all I’m trying to do. Looking back over this Test the thing is we have managed to go 2-1 up in the series, right the wrongs from Trent Bridge with the way the game has gone but all that matters to me is winning the game,” Stokes added.
Speaking about the final Test against South Africa at Manchester, he said,
“We just hope that when it comes to the game in Manchester, we can put in a performance like the one just gone. But even when we have bad times, we can never look back at our preparation and think we could have done better.”