Ben Stokes captaincy debut started on a poor note

After England’s four-wicket defeat against West Indies at The Rose Bowl, Southampton , stand-in captain was asked about his decisions at the toss , when opting to bat first or even the bigger one to omit Stuart Broad out of the playing XI.
Stokes remained bold in relation to both the decisions he made.
He said “I would still have batted first, because first innings runs count. If we made 400-500 runs, we really would have taken it away. But it has been a massive learning curve for the batting line-up and the young guys. I don’t regret leaving Stuart Broad out, and we are fortunate to leave someone like him out. I would be upset if he didn’t show the passion he did in that interview, and he’s nowhere near done,”

9 Likes

There was more to Ben Stoke’s captaincy than these 2 decision that overturned the game. He was the leading scorer for the team in the first innings when all the England batters struggled against the pair of Shannon Gabriel and Jason Holder. He had a good partnership with Jos Buttler and was also the leading wicket-taker for England in the first test. Stokes nicely rotated the bowlers in the first innings and used the 3 seamers to castle down the Windies top-order with accurate length. It was his first attempt as a captain and he did pretty well against a well balanced Windies side.

4 Likes

Ben Stokes according to me is not a captain material. He is a player who is destructive in all formats of cricket. Coming to a conclusion that his captaincy stint started on a poor note just because of two eye-catching decisions that he made right at the start of the match is not fair. These decisions about selection and what to do at the toss aren’t necessarily right or wrong. They can be made to look that way by subsequent events but they are generally based on sound logic. It wasn’t the decision to bat first or the decision to leave out Broad that cost England but the all round display by West Indies who played good cricket led his captaincy debut end in defeat.

4 Likes

England let themselves down with their fielding, dropping a number of catches, 1st inning all out score of 204 and missed chances.

The embarrassing blunder from Ben Stokes summed up England’s 4-wicket loss.

Was Ben Stokes good enough as England captain vs. West Indies? | ESPNcricinfo

4 Likes