England’s all-rounder Ben Stokes has been their crisis-man for years and yet again he lives up to the tag with an early return to international cricket, simply because the team needed him. Stokes will be leading the entirely new squad in the ODI series against Pakistan starting July 8.
England’s main ODI squad that Eoin Morgan led against Sri Lanka last week had to be isolated amidst the pandemic. Three players and four staff members were found Covid-19 positive, and as a precaution, England put the entire squad in isolation, citing the close contact with positive members.
The all-rounder was making a slow recovery from a finger injury, playing in the County Championship for Durham. On Monday evening, he received a call from England coach Chris Silverwood, informing him that the whole squad is being put into isolation and asking him to lead the side.
“Spoons straight up asked me the question: ‘Can you come and do it?’ I was like ‘Yeah’.”
Stokes acknowledged that these are “exceptional circumstances“. The brand new squad of 18 players arrived at Cardiff on Tuesday evening. The players were confined to their hotel rooms until the PCR test results came back negative. Once that was confirmed, the team was able to train at Sophia Gardens on Wednesday afternoon, less than 24 hours before their opening fixture in Cardiff.
Originally, the 30-year-old player was set to miss the series against Pakistan as he recovers from his injury.
“After the call happened my wife sent me a screenshot of an article saying England aren’t going to rush Ben Stokes back. I tried to make light of the situation and said the same thing to Gilo [Ashley Giles, ECB director of men’s cricket] as well. It’s one of these situations that’s an example of ‘if you don’t laugh you’ll cry’,”
Stokes said.
Stokes asserted that although his return is not ideal with respect to the medical and fitness perspective, he will always stand up when the duty calls.
“But it was like when I came back for Durham a bit earlier, my job needed me to do something, so I had to stand up and do that, same with this, this is earlier than planned from a medical and fitness point of view but when a job comes and calls you, you need to stand up and make yourself available,”
he added.
England have as many as six uncapped players in the squad, and most of the other members have had very little international experience. The makeshift England captain assured that the team will not be fazed by any inferiority when they take the field against Pakistan.
“One thing I told myself to tell the team is that although this has been a very quick turnaround of events in having to pick a new squad, it does not matter what names are on the back of an England shirt we are walking out there as the no 1 team,”
the 30-year-old stated.
England have handed Will Jacks, Ben Duckett, Tom Helm, David Payne, Brydon Carse, John Simpson their first national call-up. They have also brought back Saqib Mahmood and Phil Salt who have previously represented England in limited overs cricket.
Zak Crawley and Dan Lawrence, who have played Test cricket, also earned the calls. Stokes admits that the Pakistan series is a great opportunity for these young players to showcase their talent.
Stokes also confirmed that he will return back to his usual batting position after playing at number 3 against India. After the first ODI at Cardiff, the teams will head to the Lord’s for the second ODI on July 10, with the final match slated at Edgbaston on July 13.
