The Ex- England Captain, Nasser Hussain is supporting Ben Stokes and Co. as he opines that their approach and method are unique and entertaining people. Although, Nasser Hussain believes that Stokes shouldn’t have declared and batted on with Joe Root and Ollie Robinson, but rather criticizing he backed the boys.
The Skipper, Ben Stokes’s declaration at 393/8 at the inception of the first test of the Ashes 2023, has triggered backlashes as Joe Root was playing exceptionally well with an unbroken inning of 118, thus many cricket experts and fans believe England should have added more runs on the score card before declaring.
“I Certainly Won’t Be Going Down The Road Of Criticizing Them..” – Nasser Hussain
In his column for The Daily Mail, Nasser Hussain refused to be critical of Stokes’ declaration:
“People will inevitably look back to England’s declaration for its part in the result, and yes, if you apply cricket logic, they should have batted on with Joe Root and Ollie Robinson in. But this England team have their own logic, and it’s helped them win 11 of 14.” said Nasser Hussain.
“I certainly won’t be going down the road of criticizing them for keeping the game moving forward and entertaining people with a different style of Test cricket,” he added.
“Ben Stokes will get it wrong occasionally, but he is desperate to entertain..” – Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain praised Ben Stokes for entertaining people with different style and mindset of playing Test Cricket. He believes that this unique approach has facilitated England to win 11 out of 14 matches, thus it cannot be dissented. He wrote in his daily column:
“Ben Stokes will get it wrong occasionally, but he is desperate to entertain, and you can’t tell me that anyone who has been at the ground for the past five days – there were still 25,000 there at 7 pm on Monday and Tuesday nights – has not enjoyed what they have seen.” said Nasser Hussain.
“At a time when Test match cricket is vulnerable, all of those people would want to come back and watch a match like that again. That’s the bigger picture,” he added.
Ben Stokes also displays no remorse or regret over declaring the match on the opening session of the Ashes 2023. He mentions during the post match conference:
“Not at all (no regrets), I saw it as a chance to pounce on Australia. Never easy for someone to go out and bat 20 minutes. Who knows? Maybe Root and Jimmy (James Anderson) could have got out, and we would have been in the same place.” said Ben Stokes.
The second test of the Ashes 2023 will begin from 28th June onwards at Lord’s.
Also read: Ashes 2023: “I Think Boland’s Got To Play..” Says Allan Border