Ben Stokes, the captain of England, stated on Monday that his team had “walked the walk” after losing the first two tests in the Ashes series against Australia, which made every test after that “a do-or-die situation.” The series ended with a 2-2 tie.
After two hours of play being delayed due to rain, England came back stronger than ever to win the last test match at The Oval by a dramatic margin of 49 runs. The English team took seven wickets in a sensational afternoon session.
Because of this, they were able to tie the series and prevent the foreign team from claiming their first series victory in England since 2001.
“It was a fair reflection of two good teams playing completely different styles of cricket,” the commentator said after the match. “However, everyone tried to play the style of cricket that brought the most out of them as a group,” Stokes said in his interview with the BBC.
According to what he stated, it also demonstrated the team’s capacity to battle their way back from a significant disadvantage.
“I don’t believe that there are very many teams that could come back from being down 2-0,” the commentator said. We were aware that we needed to put more effort into it beginning with the second game. He remarked, “Hand on heart, I believe that a score of 2-2 is a fair reflection of where the two teams are at the moment.”
“When I took over (as captain in May 2022), I had a clear message which led us here, and the way that we’ve gone out and played reflected that,” he said. “When I took over, I had a clear message which led us here.” Out there, we did more than just speak the talk; we also walked the walk. I have a lot of pride in how well we’ve done.
He also lauded the career of his departing star bowler Stuart Broad, who took the last two wickets of the match to ensure victory. The first of those wickets was taken immediately after swapping around the bails on the stumps at the non-striker’s end in an apparent attempt to distract the hitters.
“If you went to the bookies and said Broad would flip the bails and then get two wickets, you’d get very very good odds,” he joked. “If you went to the bookies and said Broad would flip the bails and then get two wickets.”
“That guy has done an amazing job for England. “I’m so happy that his family were able to be here to see him help us win a match that we needed to win in order to avoid losing the Ashes,” he said.
Stokes also said that he intended to still be in control of the squad by the time the next Ashes series rolls around in November 2025.
“Here’s hoping that we’re still holding up and that everything is proceeding normally; I’ll be there.”