‘I am not going to change’ – Ben Stokes defends his first innings declaration after narrow Edgbaston loss

England suffered a heartbreaking two-wicket defeat to Australia in Ashes 2023 opener at Edgbaston, Birmingham on Tuesday, June 20. Ben Stokes’s decision to declare on 393/8 in the first innings was clearly one of the highlights of England’s loss but the English skipper defended his decision and stated that he will not change his style of cricket in the remaining four Tests.

The hosts had control over the game when Australia lost their eighth wicket on just 227 runs while chasing a 281-run target. But Pat Cummins played a captain’s knock of 44* off 73 to snatch away a memorable win. Stokes’ first innings declaration on Day 1 while Joe Root was batting at 118* drew a lot of flack from the former cricketers, including skipper Michael Vaughan.

Vaughan criticized Stokes’ early declaration and said that hopefully, the all-rounder will not make the same mistake in the second Test match at Lord’s. When asked about whether he will repeat the same decision at Lord’s, Stokes replied that he will do it again if England are at 398/6 and have 20 minutes left to bowl. 

“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,” Stokes told reporters after the loss. “I could also turn it around and say, ‘If we didn’t declare, would we have got the excitement that we did at the end of day five?’ I’m not a hundred percent sure, but I’m not going to be looking back on this game as ‘what ifs’… the reality is, we just didn’t manage to get over the line.”

Stokes also cleared that he saw a chance to pounce on Australia to start Day 2 on top and will not change his cricket on the basis of what-ifs.

“I thought that was a time to pounce. 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,” Stokes added.

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