England’s captain Ben Stokes couldn’t have asked for a better start to his captaincy tenure. Stokes along with head coach Brendon McCullum have adopted Bazball, which is helping them reap rewards for their aggressive batting.
Stokes has thus far led in nine Test matches out of which the team has won eight games and drawn one. England continued their dream form under Stokes as they won the second Test match against Pakistan by 26 runs at Multan.
Mark Wood got two crucial wickets in the first session on a penultimate day as he got rid of Mohammad Nawaz and Saud Shakeel.
Stokes revealed he wanted to change a few things when he took over as the team’s captain and he has been able to lead from the front. The all-rounder added it is always special to win in the subcontinent conditions as England registered their first series win against Pakistan after 22 years in Pakistan.
“Coming to the subcontinent, it’s always a tough place to come and win [games of] cricket,” Stokes told Sky Sports. “We know what we’ve achieved this week. We know that it’s something that’s not unheard of, but very rare to do, especially as an English team.
“We’ll take it all in. We do understand how special an achievement this is this week, but as we keep saying, these series victories and these wins are part of a much bigger picture in what we’re trying to achieve at the moment.
“When I first got the job, I just wanted to come in and just try and change a few things up and get things going in a different direction. We were never focusing too much on results when I came into the job, and obviously the bigger picture and stuff like that, but sheesh, it’s been an amazing nine games to start off with.
“I just feel very honoured and very privileged to be a part of something like this and having everyone – not just the players but the backroom staff and everyone that works alongside us – being on the same path. It’s really, really good.”
Stokes added he wants people to enjoy Test cricket wherever they play.
“Wherever we go in the world, we want people to enjoy the cricket, and the more we can do that – I keep saying it – the more Test cricket stops getting spoken about like it’s the losing form of cricket, because it’s definitely not.”
The third and final Test match between Pakistan and England will be played at National Stadium, Karachi from December 17.
