Less than a month away from the start of the home summer and a new era of cricket in England, newly-appointed Test skipper Ben Stokes says he wants to cultivate a “selfless” group spirit.
With England trying to revive their fortunes at the Test level after recent changes in the team’s leadership group, the 30-year-old said the focus on the field should be to try and control the controllables and play in unison towards one goal.
The new skipper, who took over from Joe Root, believes decisions made off the field, while relevant to the team’s cause indirectly, shouldn’t deter the players from doing their jobs.
Stokes was referring to the organisational changes that England and Wales Cricket Board is about to go through and the imminent restructuring of the county game following a high-performance review under new managing director Rob Key.
“There is a lot that needs to change, not just from on the field. Those kinds of things will be going on, and those discussions will be had, they’re not really to speak about here.
But in terms of on-the-field stuff, a great starting point for me is I want to have selfless cricketers who make decisions based on what they can do to win a game in that given time.”
the premier allrounder told Sky Sports.
The player also downplayed concerns around his individual workload and whether he hesitated before accepting Key’s offer to take over Root, who resigned from his position on April 16 after a series of poor results at the Test level.
Also read 👉 Tactically Root wasn’t a fit as England captain – Geoffrey Boycott
With the team in doldrums and question marks raised on the quality of the County Championship as a feeder, Stokes agreed it took him some personal deliberations but it didn’t take him long to say yes to the captaincy post, an opportunity to do things his way. The 30-year-old has previously captained England in a Test match during the summer of 2020 against the West Indies when Root took a paternity leave.
His first assignment as a full-time skipper will be the three-Test series against New Zealand, starting June 2 at Lord’s. England will also take on India in a one-off Test, before concluding their summer for the format with a three-match series versus South Africa.
