BEN’S GOT DOUBLE VISION
Stokes insists England have set their sights on T20 World Cup glory as well as an Ashes victory in 2021
BEN STOKES has total belief England can go one better than 2019 by bringing home a T20 World Cup and Ashes double next year.
The 50- over World Cup winner was bursting with satisfaction just before he boarded a plane back to the UK following a 3- 0 T20 whitewash over South Africa.
It was a series dominated by the bat of Dawid Malan (right) with others chipping in with match- wi n n i ng contributions, proving to Stokes there is little to stop this England white-ball side when they are on song. And with the Test side unearthing batting talent such as Zak Crawley ( below, far right) to complement the likes of Stokes and also Jofra Archer ( below, middle) who will be touring Australia for the first time, a bumper year of international cricket could end with two of f the game’s biggest prizes.
“Obviously we’re very confident in our ability as a side,” said Stokes. “If we don’t think the World Cup and Ashes are achievable then it’s pretty pointless turning up.
“We concentrate on ourselves and put pressure on ourselves rather than look at the opposition and see what they have to offer. We know how strong a side we are. We know if we play our best game of cricket we can beat most teams – which isn’t an arrogant thing to say, it’s where we’re at.
“The big challenge is just making sure we stay fit, especially throughout the lockdown and quarantine periods we have to go through.
“There’s a massive year of cricket coming up again and hopefully I’ll be able to play a full part in it, but I guess it is about trying to stay in the moment as much as possible.”
After moving to No.1 in the world, Stokes can see the T20 side developing in much the same way the 50-over team did before their eventual success, but reckons there is much more to come because the first-choice team is only starting to take shape and play together more regularly.
“We always try the positive route,” he added. “This team is not about taking it cautiously, and we maybe fell on that in the first game which is understandable because we haven’t played too much together.
“But as the series got deeper we really showed what we are about and it’s great to see some guys playing so freely in a short space of time.
“It’s scary to think where this team could go when we’ve played some games together. It is a familiar feeling because the 50- over team built a squad where everyone was pushing each other.”
Stokes left the tour with a bandaged hand after cutting it on the digital boundary display that clearly wasn’t the minimum 2.7 metres away from the rope, saying, “it is something that should be looked at.”
And after England met with match referee Andy Pycroft on Wednesday, that is what will happen for the ODI series with the rope to be brought further in.