“I’m a captain who saw it as an opportunity to pounce on Australia,” Stokes said.
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“I don’t think any batter likes to go out 20 minutes before the close of play. The way in which we played,and took Australia on,actually allowed us to be able to do that.
“I could also turn around and say,‘If we didn’t declare,would we have got that excitement like we did at the end of day five?’.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure,but I’m not going to be looking back at this game as ‘what ifs’.
“The reality is,we just didn’t manage to get over the line this week.
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“Losing sucks. Any game you play,any sport you play,you always want to be the winner,” Stokes said.
Asked if he would have declared in similar circumstances,Cummins said:“Probably not. I’m not overly surprised[that Stokes did] but the wicket felt pretty good so I thought every run was pretty much needed in that first innings.”
England ended up with a seven-run first-innings lead when they might have had a substantial advantage,but Stokes,surprisingly chilled after the defeat,felt it was far from a “psychological blow” for his side.
“It’s a bit early to say the Ashes are slipping away after one game,” he smiled. “There are still four games left. Keep following us and we will keep trying to do what we do.
“I’m sat here as a losing captain,but I couldn’t be more proud of the way we have operated,and the effort put in by everyone across the game.
“We’ve lost and it’s disappointing but if you look at the way we’ve played over the last five days compared to how the last few Ashes series have gone it proves what we’re capable of doing against Australia.
The tension was high at Edgbaston as the first Test went down to the wire.Credit:AP
“Even though we’re on the wrong end of the result here,it proves we went toe-to-toe throughout the whole game.”
And if England pile on a huge first-day score at Lord’s in the next Test,would he make a similar declaration?
“Yeah,I’d like to be 398 for six with 20 minutes left,that’d be great,” he grinned.
Stokes also couldn’t help recalling his greatest day at Headingley in 2019,when he batted England to victory to level the Ashes,as he almost took the most dazzling one-handed catches to get rid of Nathan Lyon at Edgbaston,only for the ball to slip from his clutches as he made an acrobatic leap backwards. This time,he couldn’t quite be the hero.
Missed chance:Ben Stokes drops an attempt to catch Nathan Lyon.Credit:Getty Images
“Yeah,god,it’s amazing. Going back to Headingley with ‘Gaz’[Lyon] dropping the ball over the stumps. It’s amazing how the world comes around. I drop that catch and he’s not out at the end. It’s mad how things go around,isn’t it?” mused Stokes.
“God. I’m reliving it in my head now. The ball was in my hand,just didn’t manage to make it stick. One of those shoulda,coulda,woulda moments.
“Would have been a good catch,though,wouldn’t it?”
AAP
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