England all-rounder Ben Stokes has come out in support of captain Joe Root after the skipper’s comments following the second Test defeat against Australia in ongoing Ashes 2021-22 were criticized by many, saying he doesn’t want to be part of a team that just sweeps things under the carpet.
England has suffered heavy defeats in the first two Tests of the ongoing Ashes 2021-22, and after the 275-run loss in the day-night Test in Adelaide, Root openly criticized the bowlers for their average showing with the pink ball, which didn’t go down well with many, including veteran James Anderson.
However, Stokes defended Root’s comments and said he was quite surprised to see it had triggered so much noise outside while admitting that the England skipper was frustrated with his team’s performance in the first two Ashes Tests.
He further said that there was an open and honest conversation that took place in the dressing room after the second Ashes Test defeat in Adelaide, and insisted that there was nothing wrong with it and urged people to take it in the right way as it would help the team get better.
Stokes wrote in his column for Daily Mirror: “There have been too many mistakes made by too many players and that is why we are where we are. And the mistakes have been repeated, which is why we had a frank and open discussion as a group after the Adelaide Test. I don’t know why it has caused surprise, because this is what you need to do when there are things to be said and solutions to be found.”
He further wrote, “Sport can be tough, and Test cricket especially so when things aren’t going well. You can tell how frustrated Joe Root was after the last defeat and we all felt it.
But I don’t want to be a part of a team that just sweeps things under the carpet and pretends like everything is ok when it’s not. I want to be part of a dressing room where we can have these chats when necessary and tell each other exactly what we think and where we think we can improve.
It is not a blame game. It is done for the right reasons, to try and help the team get better and start winning. I had my piece to say and hopefully got it across in the right way, but then others joined in and anyone who had something to contribute was able to.”
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The 30-year-old continued, “We don’t have chats like that very often, but it needed to happen, and I hope that people take the right things away from it, get the work done that they need to before the match, and then put in a performance we can all be proud of come Boxing Day.”
Stokes signed off by saying, “And what a game it could be. A Boxing Day Test in front of so many people is what it is all about and it would be the perfect occasion to turn things around. We are in a very obvious position at 2-0 down. We need to win, so we cannot die wondering, and we won’t.”
(Daily Mirror inputs)
