England cricket team would be booming with confidence after winning the ODI series against New Zealand by 3-1. All eyes will be on the scintillating all-rounder Ben Stokes who came out of retirement and had a remarkable ODI series against New Zealand. Ben Stokes is such a player that can contribute in all the 3 facets of the game.
The peculiarity of England is that they have got a lot of powerful all-rounders present in the form of Sam Curran & Chris Woakes who can change the complexion of the match quite quickly. Sam Curran can be the ‘X’ factor for England who not only can bowl but has a wide range of shots which can disturb the dynamics of the bowler.
Ben Stokes’ body & knee is failing him- Nasser Hussain
Nasser Hussain was having an interaction with Mirror Sport. Nasser Hussain stated that Ben Stokes can be the go-to bowler for skipper Jos Buttler. Nasser Hussain pointed out that Ben Stokes can bowl short spells due to his knee injury which most of the time keeps bothering him.
“If (England) get to a World Cup final and the skipper needs four overs, you know what Stokes is like. He’ll say, ‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’ That’s why he’s where he is now – because he’ll do anything for anyone,” said Nasser Hussain.
“You just don’t know. He’s obviously not going to be the all-rounder he was, simply because his body and knee is failing him. I don’t think it’s easily fixable as well. It’s not like he can just have an op – otherwise he’d have had that,” he added.
Ben Stokes an asset
We witnessed in the recently concluded England vs New Zealand that how ruthless Stokes was when he smashed 180 odd runs against a quality New Zealand’s bowling line up. The left handed batter is looking ominous as his presence makes the British team a dangerous one.
Ben Stokes can be used as a secret weapon as playing all the 9 group stage matches can be risky as the all-rounder already has knee problem. Skipper Jos Buttler and head coach Matt Mott will have a steep task ahead of them as retaining the World Cup 2023 won’t be easy as the last 3 editions have had new champions.
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