Stokes’ decision came under scrutiny in the media, with former England captains lining up to say they would not have declared in the same circumstances. And in the context of England’s narrow defeat late on the final evening, his declaration was questioned again.
Speaking on the BBC’s Test Match Special, former England captain Michael Vaughan said he would “guarantee” that Stokes would not make the same declaration in the second Test if the circumstances arose.
“Those 30 or 40 runs…” Vaughan said. “If you’d have asked Ben Stokes this morning, ‘Would you have liked Joe to have got another 30 on that day one, you’ve now got them in the bank?’ Of course [he would].
“I will guarantee at Lord’s, if they bat first and they’re 393 for 8 with 20 minutes to go, I will guarantee that they’ll carry on batting… not with Joe Root 118 not out.”
But at his press conference, Stokes said: “If we were in the same position? Yeah. I would like to be 398 for 6 [sic] with 20 minutes left. That would be great.”
“I wasn’t overly surprised,” Cummins said, “but the wicket felt pretty good, so I thought every run was pretty much needed in that first innings.”
But Stokes explained that he had sensed “an opportunity to pounce” on Khawaja and Warner, and that he would not alter his bold captaincy style simply because of the opposition and the nature of Ashes series.
“I thought that was a time to pounce,” Stokes said at the presentation. “I am not going to change the way I have gone about my cricket because it is the Ashes.
“Who knows? We could have got an extra 40 runs or lost two wickets in two balls. I am not a captain who gets by on what ifs.
“We saw it as an opportunity to pounce on Australia and really start day two on top.”
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