Stokes to use therapist to deal with captaincy strain
Ben Stokes will use a therapist to help him cope with the demands of the England captaincy and is adamant he can avoid another episode of burnout.
England had to do without Stokes for almost six months last year when he took a break for mental health reasons caused by a combination of the non-stop cricket, the grief over his father’s death and the stress of his court case.
He has now stepped into the most pressurised job in English cricket as test captain, picking up a team with one win in 17 tests and five series defeats in a row (India are 2-1 with one to play in the series held over from last summer).
Adding the captaincy to his workload has increased fears he could suffer from burnout again although he believes his past off field problems will help cope with the extra scrutiny of his new job.
Stokes is still seeing a therapist, independent from the England & Wales Cricket Board, who helped him last year and will urge his players to seek help if they need it too.
‘‘I have been amassive advocate for this area since I took my break and I will continue to do that. I know how important it is not just for our players but the people who tour around with us. They do the exact same stuff day in day out that we do. But I have that experience to talk to anybody, whoever they may be, if they feel like they need to. The hardest thing to do in the first place is to talk to somebody,’’ he said.
‘‘I know the pressures being England captain can bring. This is something Joe [Root] has toldme: make sure you have the people around you to take asmuch of the pressure off you as possible.’’
Stokes will drop down the order to No6, the traditional batting place for an all-rounder, to give him more time to switch off from captaincy in the field but will have a hands-on role in selecting the squad for the first test and be consulted in the recruitment of the test coach.
Speaking for the first time since he was appointed last week, Stokes said he wants ‘‘selfless’’ cricketers in his team and this is a new beginning for all.
‘‘Winning one game in 17 is nowhere near good enough for the people we have in our team. Everyone needs to be realistic with that. What we can do is say there’s only one way to go from here, which is up. I understand things don’t happen overnight, I can’t expect it to just click and all of a sudden we’re No1 in a year’s time but I’mvery excited about the role I’ve got to play in hopefully making the England test team great again.’’