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The captain was proud of the way his squad rallied to end the tour on a high and hoped it would be a spark for more consistent performances away from home

Peter Della Penna in Lauderhill06-Aug-2018Saturday night in Florida, Bangladesh faced long odds to defeat the reigning T20 world champions.Not only were they 1-0 down after a series-opening loss in St Kitts, but Bangladesh were heading to a venue for the remaining matches where West Indies were not only undefeated but had recorded two of their three highest totals in the format: 209 for 2 against New Zealand in 2012, and 245 for 6 against India in August 2016.A little after midnight on Sunday, Bangladesh etched a page in their own history books by completing a remarkable comeback courtesy of a Lauderhill sweep of West Indies to win the T20I series 2-1. With 2.5 overs to go in the match and West Indies well behind the par score in the chase, a second rain interruption occurred, but the majority of the overwhelmingly partisan Bangladesh crowd stayed back even after the match was called off. They were rewarded with a victory lap through the rain led by captain Shakib Al Hasan who paid tribute to the crowd for giving his squad an emotional lift in a series win.”So many Bangladeshis, they came from different parts of the US,” Shakib said at the post-match presentation. “They were supposed to fly back today but they stayed back because we won yesterday. Thanks to them because we never felt like we were away from home. Obviously, it was a long series and in the end the support we got, I think they played as 12th man.”Shakib was declared the Man of the Series for the role he played in a stirring pair of victories in Florida. The captain scored 84 runs and took a combined 3 for 41 in eight overs across the final two wins, his bowling figures especially impressive considering the traditionally high-scoring venue. He said his 60 off 38 balls while batting first in the second T20I spurred him on to deliver with the ball as well.”I think I was batting well throughout this series,” Shakib said. “I was hitting the ball well. I think that gave me a lot of confidence. That helped me bowl well and captain well. I was planning to prepare myself as well as I can to perform well and as I said, really proud of the boys the way they showed their character.”Everyone, even the guys who are not playing put the hard yards, they are always in the game for the team. Whenever they are needed, they try to help the team out so nothing more I can ask from the team.”The captain was especially proud of the way the rest of the squad stepped up after being behind in the series heading into Lauderhill. The openers provided fiery starts with Tamim Iqbal scoring 74 off 44 in the second match and Liton Das hammering 61 off 32 in the decider. Mustafizur Rahman also took three wickets in each win.Nazmul Islam took 3 for 28 in the second match but suffered a freak injury on the third ball of his spell the next day when he got tangled up with Chadwick Walton at the non-striker’s end while attempting a diving stop to a straight drive from Marlon Samuels. Walton momentarily lost his balance after Islam’s dive resulted in a collision and he inadvertently stepped on Islam’s left hand, with the spikes producing a nasty gash to force Islam off the field for the rest of the night. But Soumya Sarkar stepped up to fill in his overs and struck two balls later to get Walton. It was emblematic of a collective team effort.”After losing the first game, we showed a lot of character,” Shakib said. “We had the belief that we can win matches. Everyone had that belief that we can come back strongly and win matches. We played against the world champions and the way all the boys showed their character, we take a lot of confidence from here on. Because our record doesn’t show this, it’s a great performance especially in T20 so from now on hopefully we can kick on.”The T20I series win was part of a limited-overs double for Bangladesh, having won the preceding ODI series 2-1 as well. Considering the way West Indies dominated Bangladesh in the two Test matches to start the tour in a 2-0 sweep, Shakib was proud of the way his squad rallied to end the tour and hoped it would be a spark for more consistent performances away from home.”We have been doing really well in ODIs for the last three-four years,” he said. “Since the 2015 World Cup I think we have been really good. This T20 series will give us a lot of confidence that we can beat the big teams and we know now how to win matches, especially tight, tight matches.”We kept on losing so many matches that went close but now we are starting to win. This is the confidence we can take. Obviously, we need to work on our Test cricket but obviously back home we are doing really well. Just now we have to go overseas and try to do our best and get some results.”

South Africa do not name a replacement for Johannesburg, already have cover in the form of Theunis de Bruyn

Firdose Moonda21-Jan-2018Temba Bavuma will take no part in South Africa’s ongoing Test series against India after fracturing his right finger during a domestic one-day cup match on January 17. Bavuma will need three to four weeks of recovery time but will remain part of the Test squad, with the selectors opting not to name a replacement batsman.South Africa already have an extra batsman in Theunis de Bruyn, who, like Bavuma, has not played in either of the two already completed Tests.Neither Bavuma nor de Bruyn would have considered themselves likely to make the starting XI, given South Africa’s new preference for a four-pronged pace pack and six specialist batsmen, but with Aiden Markram’s injury, both may have fancied their chances. Markram suffered a mild quad strain during the Centurion Test and was unable to take the field in India’s second innings. He received treatment throughout the week and will undergo a fitness test on January 23, to determine his availability for the Wanderers Test, which starts the following day.Should Markram be unable to join Dean Elgar at the top of the order, de Bruyn is a now shoe-in for the role. Though de Bruyn does not open the batting in franchise cricket, he opened in one of his three Tests, when he replaced Stephen Cook in New Zealand for the final Test in Hamilton. There, he made a first-innings duck and second-innings 12. Bavuma has also opened the batting before, in the final Test against India in Delhi in 2015, where he replaced Stiaan van Zyl.Bavuma is expected to recover in time for the four Test series against Australia, which begins on March 1.

Since the PCB provisionally suspended the batsman on March 18 last year, for his role in the PSL spot-fixing saga, his ban is less than three weeks from its end

28-Feb-2018Last year’s PSL spot-fixing scandal has claimed yet another scalp, with Shahzaib Hasan handed a one-year ban after falling foul of the
PCB’s anti-corruption code. Shahzaib was found guilty on two counts of breaching Clause 2.4.4, which deals with a failure to disclose corrupt
approaches, and one count of Clause 2.4.5, which concerns the failure to report any incident a player is aware of that would amount to a breach of the anti-corruption code.Shahzaib has, crucially, been found not guilty of breaching the far more serious Clause 2.1.4, which involves “directly or indirectly soliciting, inducing, enticing, instructing, persuading, encouraging or intentionally facilitating any participant to breach any of the foregoing provisions of
this Article 2.1.” That would have likely led to a significantly longer ban.The judgement revealed that Shahzaib, in addition to failing to report a corrupt approach from bookmakers “Sajid” and “Robbie”, had also failed to inform the PCB’s anti-corruption unit about the details of the approach to the national cricketers. It was also judged that he failed to disclose the full details of approaches received by Babar Azam and Sharjeel Khan relating to engaging in corrupt conduct during the fifth ODI against Australia in Adelaide in on January 26 last year.Since Shahzaib was provisionally suspended by the PCB on March 18 last year, his ban is less than three weeks away from its end. He has also been fined Rs 1 million (approximately GBP 6500). However, the PCB’s legal advisor Taffazul Rizvi, speaking to reporters after the verdict, said this did not mean he would be eligible to play cricket as soon as that.”His ban may end on March 17, but remember that according to the anti-corruption code, you have to go through a rehabilitation process. The first step towards beginning rehabilitation is the acceptance of guilt. If he does not accept that he was guilty, then his rehabilitation process cannot begin.”Shahzaib is the sixth player to be sanctioned in the wake of the PSL spot-fixing case. Today’s events meant all six players – Sharjeel Khan (5
years), Khalid Latif (5 years), Mohammad Irfan (1 year) , Mohammad Nawaz (2 months), Nasir Jamshed (1 year) were the others – have been banned for certain lengths of time for their role in the saga. Even so, the process is not yet concluded. The PCB has slapped further corruption charges on Nasir Jamshed, which could result in a longer ban, while it is not yet clear whether either party will appeal the tribunal’s verdict on Shahzaib.It has been more than seven years since the opening batsman Shahzaib last played for Pakistan, with his participation in their victorious 2009 World T20 campaign the highlight of his brief international career of three ODIs and 10 T20Is.

Seamers do the needful against Warwickshire, as Surrey collapse opens door to points victory

ECB Reporters Network24-Sep-2025Warwickshire 258 (Mousley 74, Barnard 48, Young 48, Hutton 4-46, Abbas 3-33) vs Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire are within 300 runs of securing the Rothesay County Championship crown after bowling out Warwickshire for 258 on day one at Trent Bridge.Needing to secure a maximum of 10 points from the final round of matches to lift the title for the first time since 2010 after their victory over holders Surrey last week, Nottinghamshire fulfilled their first requirement by taking all three bowling bonus points, led by Brett Hutton’s four for 46 and Mohammad Abbas’s three for 33.And Surrey’s failure to take any of the five batting bonus points potentially up for grabs in their match against Hampshire at Southampton, means they require just two more in this match to be certain of becoming champions.Put simply, if they can muster anything above 300 with the bat within 110 overs in their first innings, the title will be theirs even were they to lose this match and Surrey win theirs.They might have been on the field in pursuit of those runs already if Dan Mousley had not defied difficult batting conditions by scoring 74 after driving Warwickshire recovery from 127 for five.Mousley shared a 117-run sixth-wicket partnership with Ed Barnard, who exactly matched Will Young earlier in making 48 from 104 deliveries. Warwickshire, who began the day in fourth place, are keen at least to overtake Somerset and finish third.After choosing not to bat first, Nottinghamshire presumably would have hoped to send Warwickshire to lunch in a more precarious position than 70 for one. As it was, in an opening session limited to 25 overs after a wholly unforecast stoppage for rain, the visitors lost only Alex Davies, who was leg before to the 10th ball of the match as Hutton found some early movement through the air.Not that it was for want of trying by the Nottinghamshire attack. Abbas, returning from a minor back issue, bowled seven overs that on another day might have generated two or three wickets. Young and Rob Yates played and missed several times and edged other deliveries past the slips. Both executed some good shots, to be fair to them.More rain delayed the afternoon session by 50 minutes. It began with another early wicket, Yates well held at second slip by Freddie McCann in Abbas’s second over.Abbas has taken the place vacated by Josh Tongue, ordered to rest up by England after his match-winning performance against Surrey last week, which illustrates the depth of Nottinghamshire’s bowling resources. Their other centrally-contracted fast bowler, Olly Stone, though he missed the first tranche of matches through injury, will complete the season having not appeared in the Championship side.Though the sky cleared, batting remained a challenge, although patience and some nifty footwork appeared to be paying off for Young. Having saved himself on 35, managing to kick the ball away a delivery from Dillon Pennington squirmed under his bat towards the stumps, he was nearing a half-century against his former county.But then he unexpectedly wafted at a ball from Hutton outside off stump and paid the price. With Surrey already dismissed by Hampshire for just 147, a first bowling point for Nottinghamshire was enthusiastically applauded by the home crowd, fully aware that the requirement to take the title was already down to just four more points.Two more wickets before tea reduced Warwickshire to 127 for five. Sam Hain, pushing forward, and Zen Malik were caught behind in consecutive overs, the latter off a ball from Lyndon James that moved late to find the edge of his defensive bat.The middle session thus belonged to Nottinghamshire, yet Mousley and Barnard resisted and then fought back in the final session, Mousley becoming more confident and aggressive as the partnership grew, accelerating to a half-century from 62 balls, which he celebrated by going down the pitch to hit James back over his head for six.In the final half-hour, though, the pendulum swung back to Nottinghamshire, left-arm spinner Liam Patterson-White claiming the second bowling point with a caught-and-bowled to remove Barnard before Abbas, bowling fast and straight with second new ball in hand, dismissed Michael Booth and Ethan Bamber in consecutive deliveries.Hutton wrapped things up by bowling Tazeem Ali before Mousley holed out to long off, leaving Nottinghamshire within touching distance of the prize.

The middle-order batsmen have fluffed their lines a few times but lack of opportunities is to blame for it to a large extent, says Bairstow

Varun Shetty in Hyderabad20-Apr-2019Sunrisers Hyderabad’s under-performing middle-order batsmen have found support in head coach Tom Moody and opening batsman Jonny Bairstow, who both feel that the unflattering numbers must not be taken at face value given how little exposure the batsmen have got this season as a result of the rollicking opening stands.The opening pair of David Warner and Bairstow have put up six 50-plus stands this season in eight innings, and on four of those occasions, they have batted either close to the halfway mark or well beyond it. Of the 907 balls Sunrisers have faced this season, 60.41% have been faced by Warner (310) and Bairstow (238). Vijay Shankar, who began the tournament at No. 3 and has gone at No. 4 whenever Kane Williamson has played, is the nearest to either of the openers in terms of time in the middle: 113 balls, less than half Bairstow’s tally.And while Sunrisers have traditionally been top-heavy, these numbers have meant that 72.87% of the deliveries have been faced by just three of their batsmen. And while the upside is that these batsmen have done well, making nearly 80% of their runs, those next in line, like Manish Pandey and Deepak Hooda at 58 balls each, have had below-average returns.”The middle-order question does confuse me,” Moody said on Saturday. “Because, on one hand, there’s enormous compliments being passed about the Warner-Bairstow combination. And quite rightly so. They’ve been terrific up front. [But] when you have that dominance up front, your middle order gets left in the dark. They get very little opportunities.”When you’re 2 for 30, 3 for 40, your middle order are getting exposed and they’re getting plenty of balls to have an influence on the game. Our middle order hasn’t had as much exposure purely because of the number of balls our top order has consumed. So, yes there’s been a couple of moments in the games we’ve played to date, where the middle order had their chance to shine and they failed. But it’s not a consistent thing. I think you need to look what influence our top order is having and the number of balls they’re facing, compared to a lot of other teams. It’s slightly different, the way we’ve gone about it, purely because of the dominance of Warner and Bairstow.”Jonny Bairstow and David Warner get together•BCCI

Bairstow, who batted with much of that middle order in their win against Chennai Super Kings on Wednesday, sympathised on similar lines.”I think a lot of people have been a bit harsh on the middle order. We’ve got some fantastic players in that middle order. Davey and I have done a fairly good job, so when they’ve been coming in, they’ve been coming in [practically] down the order, so they don’t have too much time in the middle to gain any momentum with it,” he said. “You look at that middle order and you’ve got some fantastic players in it. You’ve got one of the guys that’s been selected in the Indian World Cup team [Vijay Shankar], you’ve got Kane Williamson, who is one of the best players in the world, Yusuf Pathan whose record speaks for itself. So there’s not too many more people you’d want in that middle order to be honest. There’s a reason why they’ve done so well over the last couple of years and (the team has) got to finals and playoffs.”Regardless of this context, Sunrisers will be wary as they begin the second half of the season trying to punch their way up on the table. Bairstow leaves the side for World Cup duties on April 24, which could likely mean Williamson jumps back up as first-choice opener. Williamson himself has not had an exciting season so far, and while he’s had most of his success for the franchise as an opener, they’ll be far from putting all their bets on his taking over exactly where Bairstow leaves off in an outlandishly perfect opening partnership.Martin Guptill also waits on the sidelines, but a move up for Williamson will likely open up spots for experienced middle-order players in Mohammad Nabi and Shakib Al Hasan.”Obviously we’ve been aware for a long time that certain players are going to be leaving at certain points,” Moody said. “But we’ve got confidence in the depth of our squad, that we can fill those vacancies. The balance of our side might look slightly different but we’re comfortable with that as well. At the moment, we’re batting with three world-class batters at the top of the order. When Jonny goes, we may have a slightly different look to our side, which doesn’t mean that we are a weaker side, it just means that we’re a slightly differently balanced side and that we’re approaching the game differently.”

Ryana MacDonald-Gay, Kalea Moore restrict home side despite unbeaten fifty for Kathryn Bryce

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay11-Jul-2025Surrey clinched their place at Finals Day in the inaugural Vitality Blast women’s competition by defending a meagre 132 for nine against The Blaze at Trent Bridge, restricting the home side to 122 for 5 to secure a 10-run victory.They pulled it off despite a bizarre start to The Blaze’s pursuit of their 133-run target in which Alice Monaghan had to be removed from the Surrey attack for bowling two full tosses above waist height and 27 were conceded in the opening two overs.Yet a brilliant comeback by Surrey’s slower bowlers meant that The Blaze – the only side to beat Surrey after winning at the Kia Oval earlier in the season – fell short despite Kathryn Bryce’s unbeaten 53 off 55 balls, with Ryana MacDonald-Gay taking 2 for 14 and Kalea Moore 2 for 17.Despite five dropped catches, The Blaze restricted Surrey to 132 for 9 from 20 overs, England leg-spinner Sarah Glenn finishing with 3 for 20 and Australia all-rounder Heather Graham 2 for 20, Surrey unable to build on 27 from 23 balls from Alice Davidson-Richards with Grace Harris their next-highest scorer on 26 from 19.Surrey’s experiment with Davidson-Richards at the top of the order paid off as she struck five fours in the powerplay, helping the visitors to 39 without loss from six after winning the toss, but when she went down the pitch to Kirstie Gordon in the seventh she was caught at long-on.Bryony Smith was caught at deep midwicket for 18 but The Blaze were unusually sloppy in the field, with Kira Chathli dropped three times before she was into double figures and Harris also put down on 4.The third-wicket pair added 39 from 29 balls before Harris top-edged a slog-sweep off Glenn, whose next over proved calamitous for Surrey as Emma Jones was bowled making room to cut, Chathli caught at mid-off and Monaghan run out.From 91 for 2, Surrey were 98 for 6, and though Phoebe Franklin picked up three boundaries, she was leg-before stepping across to Graham, who then bowled Moore for 2. Cassidy McCarthy dismissed Alexa Stonehouse and though another dropped catch off the last ball of the innings handed MacDonald-Gay two runs, 133 looked a target well within the home side’s compass.Surrey’s fortunes did not improve with the ball, giving The Blaze innings a 12-ball opening over. Started by Monaghan – ordered out of the attack after two full tosses over waist height in her first four deliveries, one of which was a wide – it was ended by Davidson-Richards, who conceded three wides of her own but had a catch put down when Kelly survived a chance on 4.After Stonehouse went for three boundaries, Blaze were 27 without loss from two overs, yet Surrey responded well by conceding only 14 more in the powerplay, picking up a wicket when Marie Kelly hit Moore’s off-spin straight to cover.The squeeze continued and after Georgia Elwiss had picked out Monaghan in the deep on the leg side, Blaze were behind the required rate at 59 for 2 from 10, needing another 74. The Bryce sisters eked out 43 at a run a ball before Sarah failed to clear wide long-on for 21, leaving 40 needed from the last five overs, but Moore conceded only two from the next.The 17th over was the first since the second of the innings in which Surrey had conceded more than eight but after Graham found long-on to go for 3, the Blaze needed 22 from 12 balls. Ella Claridge tried but failed to clear deep midwicket off MacDonald-Gay, after which Franklin had no trouble defending 19 off the last over to see out an extraordinary victory.

Robinson claims four wickets with hosts still 282 runs behind

ECB Reporters Network04-Jun-2019Sussex pace bowler Ollie Robinson left Middlesex facing the prospect of their heaviest County Championship defeat of the modern era after a rain-affected third day at Lord’sThe right-arm seamer tore out the heart out of the home side’s top order with figures of 4 for 23, which included a burst of 3 for 8 in 14 balls.When the weather closed in to provide temporary respite for the beleaguered Seaxes they were 61 for 4 still needing 282 to make Sussex bat again.Perhaps more pertinently, Stuart Law’s side require a further 51 to better their loss by an innings and 232 runs to Sussex at Lord’s in 2005 – their worst defeat against a county side since before the outbreak of World War II.Robinson, in his first match since injuring his shoulder against Durham in April, had taken three wickets on the first day as the Lord’s tenants were hustled out for 138. In more seamer friendly conditions he was close to unplayable second time around.The 25-year-old and his new-ball partner Mir Hamza set Middlesex openers Max Holden and Sam Robson a searching examination in the morning gloom.Both bowlers beat the bat a number of times and it was no surprise when Holden edged a ball leaving him a touch on the off-stump line to Luke Wells at fourth slip.Holden will have been left doubly frustrated by the fact just four balls later, rain and bad light intervened for the first time, driving the players off for an early lunch.The shortened first session meant Robinson had plenty of energy in reserve to take up where he left off upon the resumption and he did so to devastating effect.Moving the ball both ways off the seam, he castled Robson with one which trapped the batsman on the crease and bowled him through the gate.Home skipper Dawid Malan was then undone by one which went the other way, feathering the thinnest of edges to Chris Jordan at first slip.Worse was to come for Middlesex when Stevie Eskinazi poked tentatively at another ball on a nagging off-stump line to give Wells his second catch of the day.Nick Gubbins and James Harris staved off any further drama before the rain came again to prevent any further play.

Sri Lanka posted their first home win in a T20I against Pakistan as Shashikala Siriwardene’s four-for flattened the visitors to 72 all out in Colombo

ESPNcricinfo staff30-Mar-2018Sri Lanka posted their first home win in a T20I against Pakistan, as spinners Shashikala Siriwardene (4 for 9) and Sugandika Kumari (2 for 15) bowled the visitors out for 72 in Colombo. The victory was Sri Lanka’s largest in terms of balls remaining, with 34 of them left unused when Siriwardene hit the winning runs.Pakistan were 37 for 1 in the eighth over after opting to bat when Siriwardene orchestrated the collapse, which saw them lose four wickets for 10 runs in the next two overs. The middle order’s Nida Dar and Kainat Imtiaz lost their wickets to run-outs as Pakistan were left reeling at 54 for 6. Sana Mir chipped in with 13 but after her dismissal in the 18th over soon led to the end of the innings.Spinners Ghulam Fatima and Mir kept Sri Lanka’s scoring tight as the hosts lost their openers within six overs, but a 29-ball 19 from Rebeca Vandort helped them regain stability and eventually level the three-match series.

West Indies put up a fight with Hayley Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle scoring half-centuries but it wasn’t enough

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jun-2025South Africa’s men had their day at Lord’s and it might well have roused the women’s team because they came back from 0-1 down in the ODI series against West Indies with a power-packed performance. There were contributions all the way down the batting order to put up 309 for 9, led by Sune Luus’ enchanting 76 off just 65 balls. Nondumiso Shangase produced a career-best 55 having been trusted with the No. 3 position for only the second time ever. And Annerie Dercksen was around to provide the flourish at the end, even though wickets were falling, as South Africa picked off 106 runs in the last 10 overs.West Indies, in reply, built their innings around fifties from Hayley Matthews and Shemaine Campbelle but their challenge wilted in the face of some miserly spin bowling from Nonkululeko Mlaba, who brought up her best figures in ODI cricket with 4 for 33. Her dismissal of Matthews came at a crucial time with West Indies keeping up with the required rate at 107 for 2 in the 20th over largely thanks to their captain’s fluency. She made 56 off just 58 balls with nine fours.Cambelle kept fighting – 53 off 58 even though she hit just five boundaries – and West Indies arrived into the last 10 overs of the game with 221 runs on the board – 18 more than South Africa at the same time and only 89 away from victory with five wickets in hand. Mlaba and the eternally gifted Marizanne Kapp took a game that was in the balance and broke it with three wickets in 11 balls. Campbelle was gone. The West Indies’ lower order had been opened up and the game petered out to its only conclusion.Scoreboard pressure played a big part in all that. Having been put in, South Africa found the going a little tough with even their free-flowing captain Laura Wolvaardt only able to score 28 off 47 balls. But the openers’ willingness to weather that period – Wolvaardt and Tazmin Brits stayed together for 15.1 overs – ensured the rest of the line-up had better conditions to bat in. It showed in how only one of the remaining top seven batters had a strike rate below run a ball. Luus was the major driving force for the innings, scoring her first ODI fifty in the last 20 innings, a sequence that goes back to September 2023. Her partnership with Shangase lit the torch paper – 85 off 69 – and that fire spread. Dercksen came in and kept up the tempo, adding 40 off 23 balls with Luus before Luus fell. But that was just a reason to go harder and Dercksen and Chloe Trying put on 57 off 34 for the seventh wicket.Tuesday’s ODI now becomes a decider before the two teams get together for a three-match T20I series.

England captain empathises with footballers amid public pressure for results

Andrew Miller09-Jul-2024Ben Stokes says that England’s evolution as a Test team has to begin in this summer’s home series against West Indies, because he wants to be able to lead a team into the 2025-26 Ashes tour in 18 months’ time that can “not just compete with Australia, but beat them”.Speaking at Lord’s on the eve of the first Test, Stokes admitted it had been a hard decision to tell James Anderson that his 188-match career has to come to an end this week. However, he acknowledged that the shortcomings exposed in England’s recent 4-1 series loss in India had forced them to redouble their efforts to be ready for their next big overseas challenge Down Under – arguably the one by which the success of Stokes’ era as captain will be judged.”I’m not going to lie: I want us to be able to take a squad out there that I know is going to go at Australia,” Stokes said. “I’ll be nearly four years as captain when we go out there. I want to be able to go out there knowing we’ve done everything possibly right over this 18-month period, to go out there with a strong enough squad to not just compete with Australia, but to beat them.”Ben Stokes has half an eye on Australia as England prepare to learn from their setback in India•Getty Images

As Stokes himself admitted, the throw-forward nature of his comments was rather at odds with the ‘live in the moment’ message that had been a bedrock of the so-called Bazball era. But, with Stuart Broad and Jonny Bairstow already gone from that original genre-bending team, and with Anderson soon to follow, England’s focus has undergone a subtle shift in the four months since the disappointments of the India tour.”It’s probably the first time you’ve heard me speak like that about something so far away, but again it goes back to our progression as a side,” Stokes added. “I want this team to progress over the 18 months, so I’m focusing on that, because I want us to go out to Australia and win the Ashes back.”That ambition, in turn, pointed to an underlying flaw in England’s recent record. For all the excitement that Bazball has stirred up among the cricket-watching public, Stokes bridled when it was put to him that – despite providing some exhilarating entertainment along the way – England have not actually won any of their three full series in the preceding 18 months, including last summer’s compelling home Ashes campaign.Aside from a ten-wicket win in a one-off Test against Ireland, their last outright series win was an unprecedented 3-0 clean sweep in Pakistan in December 2022.”Let’s just take that in,” he said. “Before the last four Tests in India, we won [the first Test] in New Zealand [in February 2022], then lost the second Test by one run. We came back from 2-0 down against Australia, had a drawn match [at Old Trafford] because of weather. [Saying that] we haven’t won a series in that time, I think is going into it a bit too much.”I won’t lie, those last four matches in India were incredibly disappointing, but going at it like that is a bit uncalled for. There’s so much that goes into winning a Test match. We go out there to win, but we put a focus on the way we play our cricket, knowing that we have found a way that brings the best out of us as individuals and a team.”Ollie Pope acknowledges the crowd after his 196 at Hyderabad, in England’s only win of the India tour•Getty Images

England’s India series did feature one extraordinary high point, as Ollie Pope’s second-innings 196 helped overturned a 190-run deficit in the first Test at Hyderabad, before Tom Hartley capped his debut with matchwinning figures of 7 for 62. Thereafter, England had their moments but ultimately were forced to blink at the key moments of the campaign, a fact that Stokes both acknowledged and vowed to learn from.”We know if we play to our capabilities, we will have given ourselves the best chance of winning that game,” he said. “[Since India], what we probably have a better understanding of now is, when the opposition might be on top, how do we handle that pressure? How do we get through that, and put it back onto them?”Sometimes it takes a hiccup to say, ‘if this is going to happen again, how do we handle that?’ But it’s also knowing that we need to put pressure back onto the opposition, rather than taking a backward step and letting them dictate terms. When we are putting pressure back on opposition, that is when we feel as individuals and as a team [that] our mindset is so much clearer.”Stokes added that he empathised with England’s footballers at the European Championship in Germany. They face the Netherlands on Wednesday evening having reached an unprecedented third semi-final in the space of four competitions, yet still come under immense criticism from a demanding public that expects even more.Related

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“It’s not surprising, is it?” Stokes said. “I want all English teams to do well, whatever sport it may be, so as a professional sportsman myself I find it quite tough to see the backlash that the footballers have gotten and they always seem to get.”They’re in the semi-finals of the Euros, they’ve done what they needed to do to get to where they are now. Something that me and Brendon have tried to do is to just relax everyone and keep that noise out. The dressing room is the most important thing.”When you’re an outsider, like I am from the England football team, it’s tough to see that kind of stuff, because I know that all that scrutiny and added pressure isn’t going to help that team go out there and perform as well as they would like to.”I know the public wants to see English sports teams do really well, but I find it tough sometimes when people are quick to hammer down on them. But I understand it, because I know how passionate this country is about seeing their teams do well.”