Ben Stokes has declared himself available for selection for England’s crucial World Cup game against South Africa on Saturday and called on the team to bring less blunder and more thunder to their remaining displays in the competition, telling his teammates: “If we’re going to go down, let’s go down doing what we’re known for.”
Stokes spoke in the dressing room after the team’s shock defeat to Afghanistan on Sunday, their second in three games and, having memorably described a 0-2 Ashes deficit as a “perfect situation” in the summer, is also seeing their current predicament as an opportunity. “Sometimes I feel like pointing out the worst but saying it in a way that reinforces people to go out there and do what we want them to do, or what Jos [Buttler, the England captain] wants them to do,” he said.
“You hear me say it a lot: I don’t care if we lose. I want us to go out there and play in the way we talk about. If we’re going to go down, let’s go down doing what we’re known for. Let’s not be timid, be restricted in what we want to do. We want to go out and show the opposition what England is, and what we’ve been known for.”
Stokes delivered a similar speech in the Melbourne dressing room after England lost to Ireland in last year’s T20 World Cup, and is becoming England’s man not just for the big occasion, but for the bad one.
“I find just reminding everyone certain things, reinforcing what they are, who they are, what they’ve achieved in the game, how talented and how good they are at the sport, that’s something I always try and do to the group,” he said.
“Jos and Motty [Matthew Mott, England’s white-ball coach] have a lot on their shoulders with it being a World Cup.
“I try and help out as much as I can without stepping on their toes. I know that people do listen when I talk. I don’t try and speak too much, but I try and speak when I feel it’s the right time.”
Stokes tore the fascia off a muscle near his left hip – “a very interesting injury, a very rare one to do” – while working in the hotel gym in Guwahati, where England had two warm-up games scheduled before the start of their World Cup campaign. “I heard it pop,” he said.
“When I did it I thought I was done, because it’s not good hearing a pop. But thankfully it wasn’t anywhere near as bad as we initially thought. We got a programme in place straight away and it went really well and now I’m here, available for selection.”
Stokes played a full role in England’s first training session at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, where Jofra Archer, who arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday night, made a briefer appearance. Stokes said he was not far from being able to play against Afghanistan, but decided on that occasion to be cautious. “If it’s a knockout game you’ve got to not worry about doing any more danger to yourself, because that could be the last chance you get,” he said. “But we were nowhere near at that stage in that game.”
As England have struggled in his absence, a number of his teammates have spoken about the potential impact of his return: Mark Wood insisted “he’s not Superman” and “it’s not all just about the Messiah Stokesy coming back and him doing everything”, while Jonny Bairstow said what while he would “naturally have an impact … it’s not a one-man side”.
“I’m not the messiah, that is true,” Stokes said. “I’m one person in a team sport, one person who can add certain bits. It doesn’t all of a sudden mean you’re going to win a game, because I know I’m just a very small part of a bigger entity. Everyone who walks on to that field for England is a match-winner in their own right. If two or three of us have a day out we know we’ll be a hard team to beat. I don’t think anyone in team sport coming back in automatically means you’re going to win a game. All I can try and do is what I do every single time I wear an England shirt, and give my absolute all.”
