admin
LONDON. — Powerful England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Tuesday said if the rules of Test cricket are going to be changed in future, it should be termed as “easy cricket” as opposed to the traditional grind, the best of which he showed during the famous Headingley Test in the 2019 Ashes.
There has been a lot of talk around the future of Test cricket with dwindling attendance at stadiums, especially in the sub-continent being a major issue. Reducing the traditional form to four days has also come up for debate among others.
Stokes, who shared an extraordinary 76-run stand with no.11 Jack Leach off which the latter contributed just one run to take England to a series-levelling, one-wicket win over Australia in the Ashes last summer, said Tests are the pinnacle and it would be sad if the format is tinkered with.
“For me Test cricket is the pinnacle. There”s been a lot of talk recently about Test cricket dying, but I don’t know where that comes from,” Stokes said during a chat with Rajasthan Royals spin consultant and New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi at the The Royals Podcast Episode 5.
“You ask all the players who, or maybe not all the players, but I know the likes of Virat (Kohli) and (Joe) Root have spoken about how Test cricket is where you really get tested.
“It’s where you find out what you’re really about as a cricketer and for me it is the purest form of the sport. It has to stay around, it would be a sad, sad day if Test cricket was changed. If they are going to change the rules, I think they should call it “easy cricket!” said the 28-year old who has been named the Leading Cricketer of 2019 by Wisden Almanack.
Stokes became the first English cricketer after Andrew Flintoff since 2005 to win the award.
Hosts England won the World Cup for the first time in 2019 and Stokes said the country will always remember the year for cricket.
“In England, 2019 will always be remembered for cricket. I feel that it eclipsed 2005 in terms of what we managed to do for the sport. 2005 was massive, it was a long time ago but it took cricket (in this country) to a whole new level, but I think we managed to take it to another level here,” he said.
On winning the World Cup final at Lord’s by beating New Zealand on boundaries after a tied Super Over amidst heart-stopping drama, Stokes said: “Sky Sports recently showed a ball-by-ball replay actually, just being able to look back on something like that which we will never be able to take away from ourselves. It’s common knowledge that the World Cup was a four-year journey of completely turning around the ODI format thinking for us after the 2015 World Cup, which was a disaster . . . not my words!”
Chasing 242 for victory, Stokes’ scintillating unbeaten 84 helped the hosts tie the see-saw contest, forcing the Super Over where more drama unfolded. — newindianexpress.com
Online Reporter