English Test captain Ben Stokes has encouraged critics not to label England’s series-opening performance in the ongoing Ashes as ‘arrogant’. England lost the first Test of the five-match series by eight wickets in Perth.
Ben Stokes stated that, while England did not win, they were “great” at times throughout the encounter.
He also stated that he didn’t mind if people criticised his team’s performance.
“Look, you can call us rubbish, call us whatever you want. We didn’t have the Test match that we wanted to. We were great in passages of that game, but I think ‘arrogant’ might be a little bit too far. But that’s okay. We’ll take the rough with the smooth. I’d rather words like ‘rubbish’, but ‘arrogant’, I’m not so sure about that,” stated Stokes, as quoted by.
The ace all-rounder acknowledged the disappointment that the English fans would be carrying after the heavy defeat in the first match. However, he stood firm while clarifying that the primary objective of the team remains to win the series.
“We know that there’ll be a lot of disappointed fans in England after that first defeat. But it’s a five-game series, we’ve got four games to go, we’ve lost the first one – we’re absolutely desperate to come home with that goal from before we even started the series, which is to win the Ashes,” concluded Stokes.
Mitchell Starc bagged the Player of the Match award for his 10-wicket match haul. The match concluded even before two whole days could conclude. England XI, of which Stokes is not a part of, are currently taking on Prime Minister’s XI in a two-day affair. The second Test of the high-octane series will be a pink-ball encounter, starting from December 4 in Brisbane.
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