Ben Stokes in telling act after copping 'idiotic' Ashes backlash

England cricket captain Ben Stokes has vowed to live and die by the sword after coming in for fierce criticism in the wake of his side's stunning defeat to Australia in the first Ashes Test. Pat Cummins (44no) and Nathan Lyon (16no) combined for 55 runs to seal an extraordinary two-wicket victory for the Aussies, reaching the formidable target of 281 to complete the country's greatest chase in England since Don Bradman's Invincibles in 1948.

Following the match, attention inevitably turned to Stokes and his shock first innings declaration when centurion Joe Root was still at the crease and valuable England runs were to be had. Such is the nature of the 'Bazball' approach that had worked so beautifully for England though, Stokes rolled the dice with the earliest Ashes declaration in history.

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Sure, it didn't work this time for England but with the rain delays and a relatively benign pitch over the first four days, Stokes at least gave his men a massive chance of winning on the final day. In truth, it took a Herculean ninth-wicket stand from Cummins and Lyon to deny England and clinch one of the most memorable win for Australia in Ashes history.

England sporting fans are fickle creatures though, with many viewing the loss as a massive failure from the captain. Following the two-wicket loss, fans turned on Stokes in spectacular fashion, branding his historic declaration on day one "idiotic" and "disgraceful", with some livid cricket supporters even going as far as saying he should stand down as skipper.

Ben Stokes has no regrets over shock declaration

To his credit, Stokes insisted that his and England's approach won't chance, no matter how it's received across the nation. The bullish England captain said he didn't regret the decision to declare and suggested he may even consider doing the same in the second Test at Lord's, starting next Wednesday.

In a classy response to the backlash against him, Stokes argued that while England could have made more first innings runs, they also could have taken crucial wickets in the tricky four overs before close of play. "I'm a captain who saw it as an opportunity to pounce on Australia," Stokes said.

"I don't think any batter likes to go out 20 minutes before the close of play. The way in which we played, and took Australia on, actually allowed us to be able to do that.

"I could also turn around and say, 'If we didn't declare, would we have got that excitement like we did at the end of day five?'. I'm not 100 per cent sure but I'm not going to be looking back at this game as 'what ifs'.

"The reality is, we just didn't manage to get over the line this week." Asked if he would have declared in similar circumstances, Cummins said: "Probably not. I'm not overly surprised (that Stokes did) but the wicket felt pretty good so I thought every run was pretty much needed in that first innings."

England set to maintain aggressive approach

England ultimately failed to take a wicket on day one and ended up with just a seven-run first-innings lead when they might have had a substantial advantage. Stokes denied after the loss though, that the Aussies have struck any psychological advantage.

"It's a bit early to say the Ashes are slipping away after one game," he said with a smile. "There are still four games left. Keep following us and we will keep trying to do what we do.

"I'm sat here as a losing captain, but I couldn't be more proud of the way we have operated and the effort put in by everyone across the game. We've lost and it's disappointing but if you look at the way we've played over the last five days compared to how the last few Ashes series have gone it proves what we're capable of doing against Australia.

"Even though we're on the wrong end of the result here, it proves we went toe-to-toe throughout the whole game." In a telling sign Stokes' approach won't change at Lord's, the skipper gave a classic response to a question about whether he'd make a similar declaration again. "Yeah, I'd like to be 398 for six with 20 minutes left, that'd be great," he grinned.

with agencies

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