Nothing is going to change – Ben Stokes vows to stay true to beliefs in Ashes
England face Australia in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston this week.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.England captain Ben Stokes says he will not make allowances for Australia and change his style for the Ashes as that would render all the progress of the last year “completely pointless”.
The so-called ‘Bazball’ revolution has seen the Test side flourish under the leadership of the all-rounder in partnership with coach and former New Zealand international Brendon McCullum, with the team having claimed 11 wins in 13 matches.
Edgbaston hosts the opening Ashes Test on Friday and Stokes said despite the history between the two sides, the quality of the opposition and what was at stake, he would not deviate from their attacking game-plan against the newly crowned World Test Championship winners.
“Nothing is going to change because we’ve had unbelievable success with it,” Stokes, who said his priority was to make everything “fun”, told BBC Test Match Special.
“If we were to change anything from the last 12 months because we find ourselves in an Ashes series then anything from the last 12 months will have been completely pointless.”
“Even before getting together as a Test team for the first time with me as captain, there was one simple thing I said I had to be doing and that was being completely true to myself.
“I had to stay true to how I’ve gone about things as a player, and do them as a captain. I had 85 or 86 games before I got made captain, and the guys that I’ve played with knew me as a person and a player.
“So if I became captain and started doing things completely differently to what they knew me for, it would raise a few eyebrows.”