Passionate Stokes desires to take England forward in Tests

As England gear up towards the start of a new home season, skipper Ben Stokes is looking to lift his side from their recent Ashes debacle Down Under.

Despite high hopes, England managed to secure just a single win in a 4-1 series loss to Australia, with the side copping criticism for their on and off-field performance.

Stokes might not have endured the best of outings with the bat, averaging merely 18.4, but stood tall with the ball, picking 15 wickets at an average of 25.13. Besides, there was no doubting his dedication to England, as the injury-prone all-rounder delivered a staggering 101.1 overs during the series.

Now the England Test skipper, who was recently retained for the role, along with head coach Brendon McCullum and Managing Director Rob Key, has vowed to continue with the same commitment as before and to learn from his side’s shortcomings.

“Baz (Brendon McCullum), Rob (Key) and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward,” Stokes wrote in a message to the England fans on his social media.

“We are going to give you everything we have. We know we made mistakes along the way, and we have learnt from those mistakes. You learn more from failure than success.”

Despite a positive start to his tenure, Stokes and his side have, of late, faced adverse results at home and away, as the Ashes loss and the preceding 2-2 drawn series against an inexperienced Indian side showed. The recent results have added to a total of 17 losses from 42 Tests under his leadership.

Stokes believes that tough times were a part and parcel of a captain’s life.

“Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given, and I do not take it for granted. It has its highs, and it has its lows; it makes you want to smile. It makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it's the only thing in your life at times.

“The last three months have without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey; it's tested me in so many different ways, and I'm sure every other captain has gone through this as well.”

But Stokes remained steadfast in his aim to return England to winning ways, with important ICC World Test Championship assignments coming up against New Zealand and Pakistan at home.

“We all appreciate every single person who supports us. We do what we do for many reasons but one of those reasons is to bring our supporters and fans happiness and a sense of pride and we will aim to do those things as much as we can in the future. See you all in June for the start of the Test Match summer.”

England’s next Test outing is against New Zealand, starting 4 June at Lord’s.