"The person who sees that as an opportunity to pounce on Australia" - Ben Stokes expresses no regrets over first innings declaration
England skipper Ben Stokes defended the decision to declare late on Day 1 of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, despite it coming back to haunt them on the final day. Australia chased down the 281-run target in the dying stages of the game to secure a win by two wickets and take a crucial 1-0 lead in the series.
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, the first day went according to England's plan. The batters were able to take on the Australian bowlers, with Joe Root scoring another memorable hundred. The hosts were placed at 393-8 after 78 overs, but instead of adding more runs to their first innings tally, Stokes declared the innings to put Australia into bat for a brief period on Day 1.
Usman Khawaja and David Warner played out four overs to escape unscathed. England walked into their second innings with a marginal seven-run lead, a figure which might have seen an increase, along with the eventual target, had they not declared early.
Admitting that he saw the prospect of declaring early as an opportunity to pile pressure on the Australian opening batters, Stokes said during the post-match presentation:
"Yeah. I'm a captain, and the person who sees that as an opportunity to pounce on Australia. No opening batter likes to go out for 20 minutes before the close of the play."
Elaborating his decision that arguably led to a thrilling finish, Stokes added:
"The way in which we played and took Australia on actually allowed us to be able to do that. You know, I could also turn around and say if we didn't declare, would we have got that excitement that we did at the end of Day 5, I'm not 100 percent sure, but I am not going to be looking back on this game as you know 'what ifs'."
England were in the driver's seat after dismissing Australia's recognized batters on the final day but were hurt by an unbeaten 55-run partnership for the ninth wicket between skipper Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon.
"The reality is that we just did not manage to get over the line this week" - Ben Stokes
England needed seven wickets on the final day to win the first Ashes Test and made early inroads by dismissing night-watchman Scott Boland and Travis Head. They roared back into the contests with the wickets of Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, and Alex Carey, but could not breach the tail like they did in the first innings.
Admitting that his side failed to cross the line this time around, Stokes said:
"There are so many things that happened throughout the five days that we could look back on and say if that went our way, could this game have been different, but the reality is that we just did not manage to get over the line this week."
Further adding that England will continue to maintain their approach in the remaining four matches, he said:
"One thing we have always done is that we concentrate ourselves on implementing our style of play regardless of what is going on with the opposition. Australia came into this game with tactics to counteract the way in which we play, but we were so close to sort of being here talking about the result in a different manner."
"There's still four games left, a lot of cricket left to be played, that is what we will be focusing on."
The second Ashes Test is slated to begin on June 28 at the Lord's. Australia have a 1-0 lead in the series and the first set of points in the third World Test Championship (WTC) cycle.