Ben Stokes remarked that he was “devastated” by England’s dramatic two-wicket loss in the first Ashes Test that was played at Edgbaston, but he believed that England’s aggressive style could still win the series against Australia.
On the last day of the match, which took place on Tuesday, an unbroken partnership of 55 runs between Australia’s skipper Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon proved to be the deciding factor in a back-and-forth competition as the tourists attempted to reach their goal of 281.
Since England’s captain Stokes and coach Brendon McCullum started working together a year ago, the team has only lost three of the 14 tests they’ve played in since then.
After a stretch of only one victory in 17 Tests under the leadership of the former England skipper Joe Root, the duo decided to adopt an all-out offensive strategy that they called “Bazball” in honor of McCullum’s moniker.
At Edgbaston, England gave a clear indication of their intentions right from the beginning of the encounter when Zak Crawley hit the first ball of the contest for four runs.
And despite the fact that England is trying to win its first Ashes series since 2015, Stokes has no reservations about the strategy he was going to use.
“I am devastated that we’ve lost that game, but in terms of what it’s done for the series, it’s hard not to be too disappointed because it has set up a great series,” he added. “It’s hard not to be too disappointed because it has set up a great series.”
“It’s not even close to being a psychological blow.
“We’ve lost, but if you look at the way we’ve played, compared to how the last few Ashes series have gone, it proves what we’re capable of doing against Australia,” he said. “We’ve shown that we can be competitive.”
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t win, but the way we competed from the very first ball demonstrates that we can compete with Australia… We still have four games to play, and that will be the primary focus of our attention moving forward.
After Joe Root scored his first century in the Ashes in eight years, all-rounder Ben Stokes decided to declare on the first day of the match despite the fact that England had 393 runs and 8 wickets in their first innings.
However, if England had capitalized on all of their opportunities and a couple of their batsmen had kept pushing in the second innings, where there were many runs in the 40s but no big contribution, they may still have won the match.
Stokes, who did not feel the need to apologize for his proclamation, stated, “I’m a captain who saw it as an opportunity to pounce on Australia.” The manner in which we competed and challenged Australia was exactly what made it possible for us to achieve our goal.
“If we hadn’t declared, do you think we would have had the same level of excitement at the very end? Even though I can’t say for certain, I’m not going to spend any time wondering about the possible outcomes of this game. We just weren’t able to get ourselves across the finish line.”