I never tried to be Andrew Flintoff or Sir Ian Botham: England skipper Ben Stokes

England’s newly appointed Test captain Ben Stokes indicated that the weight of his new leadership role will have no effect on his individual all-round performance in the game. Given the performances of former all-rounder captains Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham throughout their individual command periods, the prolific all-rounder argued that the media raising questions about his captaincy might have an impact on his game.

Stokes was recently appointed as the captain of the English Test Team as he succeeded Joe Root to become the 81st captain of the England Men’s Test Team. Stokes stated that people have been comparing him to Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham for numerous years and made it abundantly clear that he has never attempted to emulate the two cricketing legends.

“The people who write that stuff are taking that from other people who have done the role. I’ve had to live with the tag of Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham since I was 18. But I’ve always mentioned that I am never trying to be Flintoff or Botham. I’m Ben Stokes,” he said while speaking to Sky Sports.

Sir Botham was named England’s Test captain in 1980 but his career as a skipper was a fiasco, as he guided the team to 12 defeats while failing to win a single contest. Flintoff, on the other hand, only achieved two wins from 11 matches as the captain of the red-ball team, and his tenure is not much looked upon as well.

What’s at the top of my priority list is the Test team and Test cricket going forward: Stokes

When it comes to workload management, Stokes stated that things won’t alter much since he would continue to play the same amount of games. After the team’s previous disappointing performances in the traditional format, he believes that he will be able to turn the face of the game for his side as the captain.

“The workload is not going to increase because I’ll still be playing the same amount of cricket. What’s at the top of my priority list is the Test team and Test cricket going forward. There will be conversations to have with the likes of Rob (Key) and Eoin Morgan. There is some potential time to have some time off and get ready. I know I’ve got a huge role here in getting this Test team back to winning ways. I’ll be putting all of my effort and energy into doing that,” he added.