Ben Stokes, the England team captain, has vowed to guide his side to win in the forthcoming home series against West Indies beginning on Wednesday without compromising his long-term goal of reclaiming Ashes in Australia.
England cricket will end an era at Lord’s when they take on the West Indies in what will be James Anderson’s 188th and final Test match. The 41-year-old has had an extraordinary international career that spanned two decades, with no fast bowler having taken more than his 700 Test wickets and only India’s batting icon Sachin Tendulkar having played more matches (200) at this level.
Nevertheless, despite these unprecedented achievements, England have deemed it appropriate to say goodbye to him now as they set their sights on the 2025/26 Ashes series in Australia. It was during England’s triumph over Australia in 2010/11 that either team last won an away Ashes series, which demonstrates how difficult a task lies ahead of Stokes and his men.
In the past, English teams were accused of being too focused on reclaiming the Ashes at the expense of other important series. However, Stokes is strongly deterred not to fall into that trap as he prepares for a three-match rubber against West Indies; he knows that he needs total concentration on whatever job is currently at stake while still keeping one eye firmly planted on future goals.
“We’re not focusing on that (Ashes) over what we need to do here (against West Indies),” said Stokes at Lord’s Tuesday. “We’ve got a lot of Test cricket to play before Australia. But we had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the team going into that series.”
This after England made significant changes in their squad after losing 4-1 in a five-match test tour against India earlier this year; among them are Jonny Bairstow and Ben Foakes who were left out. For the match at Lord’s, Jamie Smith has been brought in and is likely to make his debut as a wicket keeper.
“I’m not going to lie. I want us to be able to take a squad out there that I know is going to go at Australia. I’ll be nearly four years as captain when we go out there. I want to know we’ve done everything right over this 18-month period to go out there with a strong enough squad to not just compete with Australia but to beat them,” said the 33-year-old Stokes.
“Probably the first time you’ve heard me talk like that about something so far away. It goes back to progression as a side. I want this team to progress over the 18 months, so I’m focusing on that because I want to go down under and win the Ashes back.”
Stokes’ optimism about being able to play again as an intact all-rounder has risen after he had knee surgery last November aimed at correcting an injury that was restricting him from performing like a dynamic pace bowler.
