One of England’s greatest away wins – Stokes

PAK VS ENG, 1ST TEST

Stokes and Anderson consider the win to be special © AFP

Ben Stokes has hailed the 74-run win in Rawalpindi as “one of England’s greatest away wins.”

The victory was achieved in trying circumstances for England, who found a way to pick 20 wickets on a very flat pitch. But challenges began for the visitors even before they took the field as a sickness bug swept through the dressing room, leaving them sprawling to put together an eleven.

But once on the field, England didn’t put a foot wrong. They made use of a good toss and racked up runs quickly in both innings before a very aggressive declaration from Stokes on Day 4 set the game up beautifully.

“To be able to get a result on this type of wicket is just mind-blowing,” Stokes said. “Just the effort that everyone’s managed to put in this whole week is just incredible and I feel very honored and feel in a very privileged position to be able to lead these guys out in the field.

“Jimmy Anderson said to me before the end of match presentation that he’s feeling quite emotional about this win. So here’s a guy who has played 180 Test matches, has experienced everything you know, the highs and lows of Test cricket, and to hear him say that about this particular Test match, I think that really makes you realize how special an achievement this week has been wearing this England shirt.

“Some of the things we can’t plan for is what happened to the squad before the Test. Seems a long time ago when we were running around to find players for the Test. Will Jacks getting the message three minutes before toss, and Pope getting the gloves.”

England played exactly in the image of Stokes and McCullum, both of whom have brought an aggressive brand of cricket to the dressing room.

“We’ve played 8-9 matches with myself and Brendon in charge. One thing we try to do is focus on ourselves and not the opposition. We know we’re a very exciting team,” Stokes said. “We wanted to come here to Pakistan and carry on with our mantra of exciting cricket. I’ve got no interest in trying to play for a draw, the dressing room has no interest in playing for a draw. Felt on this kind of wicket, almost had to entice the batsmen to play an attacking shot.

“Today we were fortunate to get the ball reverse-swinging. James Anderson and Ollie Robinson were fantastic today. We won probably about 8 minutes before we would’ve come off. This is probably up there as one of England’s greatest away wins.”

James Anderson, who starred with a four-wicket haul in the fourth innings, hailed Stokes for thinking “out of the box”.

“He is someone you want to play for,” Anderson said of Stokes, to Sky Sports. “He gives you so much confidence and the way he knows what he wants to do. He thinks about things a lot. The fields he sets and the way he tells you what to do is great.

“He is trying to do things differently. Thinking outside the box is what you need on a pitch like this.”

© Cricbuzz

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