Ben Stokes has expressed the hope that England’s remarkable comeback against Australia, in which they came back from a 2-0 deficit to tie the Ashes series, would inspire a new generation of cricket fans.
At The Oval on Monday, Australia was attempting to win a massive 384 to win the match, but they crumbled from 264-3 to 334 all out, which meant that England won the match by 49 runs to even the five-match series.
Stokes, the captain of England, expressed his elation when the series ended with a score of 2-2. “I think 2-2 generally is a fair reflection of two very, very good teams going at it over a five-match series,” he remarked.
“Obviously, Australia being the world Test champions leading into this series, the cricket that I think has been on show has been of the highest quality,” he said. “The cricket that has been on show has been of the highest quality.”
The all-rounder, who is 32 years old and plays many positions, said that he was pleased with the way his side had played throughout the series, maintaining their offensive strategy. This was despite the fact that they had lost the first two Tests at Edgbaston and Lord’s.
He expressed his pride in the squad by saying, “Coming here and playing in the way that we did, I couldn’t be any more proud of the team and what they did.”
“We’ve continued everything in the style of play in which we’ve done it over the past 14-15 months, and it’s basically been everything I think I could have asked for besides getting the urn back,” he said. “We’ve done everything in the style of play in which we’ve done it over the past 14-15 months.”
Stokes, who scored an incredible 155 at Lord’s despite the fact that his team was ultimately unsuccessful, expressed his hope that younger generations will be motivated by what they had seen.
He stated, “I definitely think that over the past seven weeks in particular, we’ve managed to drag a new audience towards Test cricket.” “I think that we’ve managed to drag a new audience toward Test cricket.”
“And I think the series is generally what Test cricket needed — two high-quality teams going at it toe to toe for six or seven weeks and the cricket that’s been played is something that you really couldn’t take your eyes off of,” he said. “And I think the series is generally what Test cricket needed.”
“It is my sincere hope that we have been able to motivate a whole new generation.
“I look back to 2005 (when England defeated Australia 2-1) and what that series did for me as a young person, and I really hope there’s someone at my age in 2005 who’s looked at this series and said, ‘that’s what I want to be doing when I’m 21, 22.'”
An additional homage was made by Stokes to the departing fast bowler Stuart Broad, who finished his Test cricket career with 604 wickets after claiming his last two victims on Monday.
“Seeing him run off and all the slips go up and celebrate was one of those moments that was just like ‘this was always going to happen,'” he added. “Seeing him run off was one of those moments that was just like ‘this was always going to happen.'”
Even though he was left off the squad for the first two games of the series, all-rounder Chris Woakes was singled out for praise by the captain for his performance on the last day of the competition, during which he took four wickets and fifty runs and was awarded player of the series.
“I don’t know if there’s ever been a player who has only featured in three games of an Ashes series but still walked away with man of the series.”