England have not won an Ashes since 2015 and things looked promising when the captain and coach duo of Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum joined hands to change the way Test cricket was played. They introduced a new fearless form of cricket which was termed as Bazball by the media and got promising results. But the Ashes remained afar and a statement by Ben Stokes during England’s Ashes draw in 2023 has stirred the hornet’s nest.
England Test skipper, Ben Stokes’ speech which came to light in the recently released documentary series certainly piqued the interest of many cricket fans. But the all-rounder has hit back at one of the reports by an Australian media outlet who termed his talk to his team-mates as ‘bizarre’
Ben Stokes on the documentary based on Ashes 2023 series
In a documentary released by the England Cricket Board, Ben Stokes could be seen cheering up the dejected team when the series was 1-2 and the fourth match in Manchester was on the brink of a washout. Ben Stokes stated that England live rent-free in Australia’s mind and the statement was called out by Fox Sports. After Fox Sports’ cheeky dig at Ben Stokes, he came up with an unabashed reply and maintained that he was purely encouraging the team.
“Everything we’ve done up until now isn’t going to stop because we haven’t managed to win the urn back. The reward for our work isn’t what we get but what we become. And what we have managed to do is we’ve managed to become a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket,” said Stokes in the documentary.
Fox Cricket posted an article with Ben Stokes’ quotes from Old Trafford and took a dig saying: “…right, yeah, sure.”
The England captain, however, responded by saying,
“Said this to the team who had watched it rain for 2 days when we had our foot on your throats, just tried to cheer up the disappointment tbh, but anyways rent free and all that.”
Ben Stokes hits back at Australian media trolling him for ‘lucky to witness us play’ comment during the Ashes 2023 series
Ben Stokes hit back at Australian media for trolling his comment about fans being “lucky to witness” his England team play during Ashes 2023. He made the remark in the dressing room after the rain-marred fourth Test of the series ended in a draw to keep it at 2-1 in Australia’s favor,
The result meant England couldn’t win the rubber despite winning the fifth Test. It was captured in the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)’s ‘Ashes 2023 | Our Take’ docu-series which was released recently.
Since then, while some platforms reported the quote with context, Fox Cricket simply mentioned that Stokes said it about “his team” in a social media post. The Australian platform also mentioned that England had won just four out of 11 Tests since 2023. The all-rounder replied to it immediately, writing:
“Said this to the team who had watched it rain for 2 days when we had our foot on your throats, just tried to cheer up the disappointment tbh (to be honest),but anyways rent free and all that 🫡”
The 2023 Ashes was a tightly contested series, made more dramatic by Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum promoting and fiercely defending an ultra-aggressive style of play that worked like a double-edged sword.
England scored 592 in reply to Australia’s 317 in the first innings and had brought them down to 214/5 in the second before constant and big rain interruptions took enough time off to allow the hosts to bowl the visitors out.
Ben Stokes exact words during 2023 Ashes series
Ben Stokes was trying to pump his side up before the final Test at the Oval, where they were trying to fight for a draw but made a massive remark, saying his team will “live forever in the memory” of those “lucky enough” to see them play. He even said that his team’s new style of play was “a lot bigger” than the trophy.
“Everything we’ve done up until now isn’t going to stop because we haven’t managed to win the urn back,” Stokes said to his teammates, as quoted by cricket.com.au.
“The reward for our work isn’t what we get but what we become. And what we have managed to do is we’ve managed to become a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket.
“I know it’s going to be a bit flat, I know it’s going to hurt that we go into the next game not being able to get the urn back. But what we have done is something a lot bigger than any Ashes trophy could ever signify for this team – be the team that everybody will always remember,” he added.
The excited rhetoric was in congruence with the comments Stokes, McCullum and other Englishmen made during the Ashes. As the fire catches the heat, England will take on Australia in the next edition of Ashes in 2025. Stokes, who has said goodbye to white-ball cricket is expected to lead the side and the competition will be intense. As England will see themselves in Australia for the Ashes 2025, the involvement of media in the off-field tussle has given the rivalry a different meaning altogether.