BEN IS STOKING ENGLAND’S FIRE
BEN STOKES wants his teammates to walk the walk when it comes to delivering aggressive “do or die” cricket in their T20 World Cup semi-final.
Stokes can barely hide his excitement ahead of the clash with India tomorrow, and has vowed to throw caution to the wind in a bid to reach the third World Cup final of his career.
He is invoking the spirit of 2019 to help inspire him and the team after a four-game run to the 50-over title began against India at Edgbaston.
“We’re in a position now that it’s do or die,” said talismanic all-rounder Stokes.
“What I don’t think anyone will do going into this game is take a backward step.
“What we’ll see here is us trying to deliver on what we talk about, not taking the cautious option.
“We’ve seen glimpses of what we’re able to do but we know as a team we’ve not really played to the levels that we would have liked to.
“The way we went out and played in that game against India in 2019...just look
at the mindset and mentality. We didn’t take a backward step so I think we can take a lot of confidence, knowing that if we go in with a similar mindset then hopefully we’ll do all right.”
But England could be without Mark Wood and Dawid Malan tomorrow.
Both face fitness tests after suffering with general stiffness and a groin injury respectively.
Neither trained properly in Adelaide yesterday.
Stokes’ desire to unleash the full force of his strokeplay might be tempered by the fact they are unexpectedly playing on a used pitch that hosted a double-header six days earlier.
England are able to adapt to conditions, as they have shown so far in a
tournament that has required smart cricket rather than all-out power, something that could yet see a repeat of the 2019 final with New Zealand in the 50-over World Cup.
Stokes said: “Thursday’s going to be a big day and I’m really excited.
“We’ve had a few up and down moments in the group stages but we can forget about those now.
“According to the Indian media we definitely will be underdogs but in these games it’s all about who turns up on the day.
“We know that if we play anywhere near as well as we know we can, we are a very hard team to beat. Hopefully then it will be Melbourne on Sunday.”
We’ll throw caution to wind insists all-rounder