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Recently-retired England all-rounder Chris Woakes shared his views on Ben Stokes' relentless mindset and remarked that the latter wants to give his all for the team even when he isn't anywhere close to full fitness. He recalled an incident from the fourth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy against India in Manchester to highlight that Stokes' fearless mentality.
Woakes' verdict on Stokes' mentality
Notably, Stokes had picked up five wickets in India's first innings of the match and took one more in the second before it was announced that he had sustained a shoulder injury and eventually missed the penultimate Test. Woakes feels that the all-rounder knew that he was in no condition to bowl in the second innings, but still did so because he wanted to contribute for the team. He further asked the 34-year-old to be careful in The Ashes as the side would want him to feature in all the five Tests.
“He’s bowling probably the best he’s ever bowled in his career. He’s as fit as he’s ever been. But as he’s getting older, you know, [there’s a] chance of breaking down. I think at Old Trafford this year, I think he knew [he] was f**ked, basically. ‘I’m broken anyway, I’ll just keep going.’ Which isn’t a clever thing to do, but that’s the way Stokes is. He wants to give all to the team. As a leader, he wants to be the guy to do it. We need him to play all five Test matches," Woakes said at an event, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
Meanwhile, England have already announced their squad for The Ashes and have decided to go for pace heavy attack. They have gone with a total of seven pace options and have chosen Shoaib Bashir, Will Jacks and Jacob Bethell as the three spin options. It remains to be seen if this side will finally manage to end The Three Lions' 14-year wait for a Test victory in Australia.
England's squad for The Ashes: Ben Stokes (c), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Josh Tongue, Mark Wood.
Schedule for The Ashes
The Ashes is set to commence from November 21 with the first Test set to be played at the Optus stadium in Perth. The action will then move to Brisbane where the second match will be played from December 4 while the third game will be held in Adelaide from December 17. The fourth Test will be played in Melbourne from December 26 and the series finale will be played in Sydney from January 4.
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