England captain Ben Stokes in action during the first Ashes Test against Australia FILE - England captain Ben Stokes in action during the first Ashes Test against Australia. Photo: Paul Childs/Reuters
Johannesburg — If there’s ever been a team capable of coming from two-nil behind to win a five match Test series, it is Ben Stokes’ brave Ashes Test team.
Since Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have taken over as coach and captain of the England men’s Test team respectively, the whole world has had a lot to say about their style of play.
It is incredibly difficult to ignore the exciting factor of the new “Bazball” approach. And like anything new and fearless, it has been met with animosity and the two men in charge, McCullum and Stokes, have copped quite a lot of flack.
It is nothing new as any trailblazer is almost always ridiculed at first, until the new style develops into an impenetrable strategy that other teams are forced to adopt to be able to compete.
The first team to put Stokes’ Test team under the pump was Deal Elgar’s Proteas Test team last season.
During the England-South Africa first Test at Lord’s, Kagiso Rabada, Marco Jansen, Anrich Nortje and Lungi Ngidi exposed a few holes in England’s new style of play.
Rabada in particular, was almost unplayable as England suffered an innings and 12-runs defeat at Lord’s.
But the main quality about Stokes as a player stood out in the following two Tests and it certainly rubbed off the entire England Test team.
That never-say die spirit embodied by Stokes could suddenly be seen in each and every England player in the last two Tests and as result, they bounced back and won that series 2-1, following a massive loss to South Africa in the first Test.
Another important aspect to that series victory from England was their general positivity. Instead of letting that innings defeat at Lord’s weigh them down, they saw an opportunity to do something special and they were able to pull it off.
In this Ashes series, England are two-nil down, but Stokes still sees a massive opportunity to further solidify their identity as a team capable of coming from behind to win a series.
“When you sit back and understand where we are in the series, it’s actually very exciting to know that the way in which we are playing our cricket couldn’t be more perfect for the situation we find ourselves in,” said Stokes in a post-match press conference after losing the second Ashes Test at Lord’s.
“We have to win these three games to get this urn back and we’re a team who’re obviously willing to put ourselves out there and do things against the narrative.
“These next three games is an even better opportunity for us than we’ve ever found ourselves in before.” He added.
In Stokes’ reign, England have won many games in a row. In Pakistan, they won three in a row and also against New Zealand, they won three in a row.
They’ve done it before, they certainly can do it again and Stokes believes they can get the job done.
“We’ve won three-nil against New Zealand, we’ve won three-nil against Pakistan in Pakistan,” said Stokes.
“We’ve won three games in a row twice, all we’re thinking about is winning the series 3-2.” He concluded.
It will be by no means a walk in the park to win three consecutive Test matches against Australia who’re the current World Test Champions.
But if there’s any team capable of doing so, it is this brave England Test team.
IOL Sport
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