The recently-concluded first Ashes Test might be one of the best games played in recent years but it is unlikely to stop some criticism for Ben Stokes and his teammates. England and Australia played an exhilarating brand of cricket throughout the five days and in the end, the latter won the game by 2 wickets.
The narrow defeat has put the focus on England’s first innings declaration. On the first day of the Test at Edgbaston, Ben Stokes shocked the cricket world by declaring his team’s innings after just 78 overs. England were on 393 for 8 at that stage with Joe Root unbeaten on 118. Following the declaration, several experts including the likes of Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen had said that England should have batted longer.
And one can say that England would have liked a few more runs in the end as they failed to defend 280 against the visitors. England were on the verge of winning the game after reducing Australia to 227 for 8 but an unbeaten 55-run stand between Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon gave the team from Down Under one of their most famous Test victories.
Ben Stokes on the declaration:
England might be facing criticism from several quarters for their unexpected declaration in the first innings but their skipper Ben Stokes has made it clear that he would not change his ways despite the defeat.
“If we were in the same position? Yeah. I would like to be 398 for 6 [sic] with 20 minutes left. That would be great,” Stokes said after the final day’s play.
“I could also turn it around and say, ‘if we didn’t declare, would we have got the excitement that we did at the end of day five?’ I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’m not going to be looking back on this game as ‘what ifs’… the reality is, we just didn’t manage to get over the line,” he added.
Speaking further, Ben Stokes explained the reason behind his decision. The New Zealand-born allrounder stated that he took the decision as he was looking to ‘pounce on Australia’.
“I thought that was a time to pounce,” Stokes said at the presentation. “I am not going to change the way I have gone about my cricket because it is the Ashes. Who knows? We could have got an extra 40 runs or lost two wickets in two balls. I am not a captain who gets by on what ifs. We saw it as an opportunity to pounce on Australia and really start day two on top.”
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