Ben Stokes all set to lead for the three T20I and ODI series against Pakistan, starting from July. He has joined the squad to give strength to the middle order.
Later on the evening of Monday, Ben Stokes was preparing for the second day of Durham’s County Championship game against Warwickshire when he got a phone call. Chris Silverwood was on the phone call and he told him that all the squad is under isolation and asked him to lead the brand new England squad against Pakistan.
The all-rounder did not fluster and came straight to the point.
“Spoons straight up asked me the question: ‘Can you come and do it?’ I was like ‘Yeah.”
Stokes believes that these are special circumstances where the 18-man squad has arrived in Cardiff on Tuesday and were isolated in their hotels until the PCR results came and the first team meeting was held via zoom.
After all the tests came negative, the squad was allowed to practice at Sophia Gardens for the first time on Wednesday afternoon, less than a day before the 1st day/night ODI is set to begin at Cardiff.
It has been a couple of rough days for Ben Stokes who was set to miss the white-ball matches against Pakistan after he recovered from a finger injury.
“After the call happened my wife sent me a screenshot of an article saying England aren’t going to rush Ben Stokes back,”
he joked.
“I tried to make light of the situation and said the same thing to Gilo [Ashley Giles, ECB director of men’s cricket] as well. It’s one of these situations that’s an example of ‘if you don’t laugh you’ll cry”.
“But it was like when I came back for Durham a bit earlier, my job needed me to do something, so I had to stand up and do that, same with this, this is earlier than planned from a medical and fitness point of view but when a job comes and calls you, you need to stand up and make yourself available.”
The squad has 12 players who have played International cricket in one format or another. The team does not require much to keep going and even Stokes does not want his team to feel inferior before going against Pakistan.
“One thing I told myself to tell the team is that although this has been a very quick turnaround of events in having to pick a new squad, it does not matter what names are on the back of an England shirt we are walking out there as the no 1 team,”
he said.
“That is an exciting thing to say you are a part of whether you are an experienced player, young player, or someone coming into the group for the first time. Situations like these are so rare and such a fluster. I would say you have got a chance to represent your country so let’s do it with a smile on our face and just enjoy it as much as we can as a group”.
“It’s great, it’s an amazing opportunity for guys either on the fringes previously or called up for the first time. It’s a really exciting time for them as individuals and for the public who follow the team. We’re going to look at it from a positive”.
“These are guys we haven’t seen in an England shirt but that’s because of how strong we have been. I’m looking forward to leading out the next exciting cricketers coming through, who will no doubt be in an England shirt in the future. It just came quicker than we expected.”
Ben Stokes says that one of his jobs is to try and get these players to relax under any circumstances, they don’t need to feel any pressure as it is the legacy of England for the past few years.
“That’s where the senior guys, the management, will have the role to play in making sure that everyone is as relaxed as they possibly can be. And just try and tell them to seize the opportunity they have got, go out and perform. Don’t change anything from what you normally do because what you normally do is what has got you here in the first place.”
Although Stokes did not reveal about the playing XI in the opening match he confirmed that he will bat at the middle-order after batting at number 3 against India during the winter series. He will also be seen in action with the ball as per his say.