Michael Atherton
Ben Stokes begged to be reinstated as England’s vicecaptain. reports.
After a summer that catapulted him to superstar status, Ben Stokes has revealed that the England captaincy would be impossible to turn down were it ever offered to him.
While emphasising that it is not an aspiration at present, and that Joe Root is the best man for the job, Stokes admitted that he could never refuse the opportunity, especially having lobbied Tom Harrison directly for the return of the vice-captaincy before the Ashes.
In his new book charting a remarkable season,
Ben Stokes
an unusual move for any player, no matter their stature.
‘‘I thought long and hard about it and thought about many different ways to write it,’’ Stokes said. ‘‘It’s not really me to do something like that, but, in the end, I just thought I might as well do it. Considering he’s the CEO, and I’m just a player, we have a great relationship and I just felt so strongly about it and wanted it back.
‘‘When I got appointed [to the vicecaptaincy] initially, it was such a big thing for me. It was such a proud moment in my career.
‘‘Obviously, it was disappointing when it got taken off me, for obvious reasons, but the closer it came to the Ashes, I began to think about it more and more. I wondered whether it was the right thing to do and what others would think about it. In the end, I just went with it. I just sent him a text message. I was sitting in the garage, I think, when I sent it.’’
While he understood why the ECB had demoted him, he thought the time was right to return to a position of
‘‘It [the England captaincy] is not an aspiration for me, currently. It’s not something that I could ever say no to and it would be a great honour to be asked to do it, but right now it’s not an aspiration.
responsibility.
‘‘It got to a point where I had been back in the team for a long while, playing across formats. I felt like if ever there was a time to put yourself out there and ask for it back just before an Ashes series, then the time was now.’’
As well as his exploits on the pitch, the book reveals just how central Stokes was, as a senior player, to many of the decisions and discussions off it that shaped England’s summer. There was, for example, the decision to omit Alex Hales with which he, and other senior players, agreed strongly.
Then there was the critical team meeting before the do-or-die match against India at Edgbaston in the World Cup, when David Young, the team psychologist, asked Stokes to lead a discussion by opening up about the vulnerabilities and fears that he and others were feeling about exiting the tournament early.
Would people be surprised to hear him admit to vulnerabilities? ‘‘It’s fine to feel vulnerable,’’ Stokes said.
‘‘It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s not a weakness to talk about being vulnerable or nervous. It helps to know everyone else is feeling like that too. I knew everyone in the room was feeling that way. That’s human nature.’’
After missing the T20s in New Zealand, his international winter gets under way next week with the opening test in Mount Maunganui, where once again he will step out as Root’s vice-captain.
Were it necessary, would leadership be too much of a burden – as it was for Botham and Flintoff?
‘‘You can’t really answer that until you’re exposed to it,’’ he said.
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