Ben Stokes appeared to be more concerned with the impact of leaked video on social media than more mainstream criticism of England's cricket. (AP Photo)
An emotional Ben Stokes on Wednesday said that mental well-being of his players was his main concern heading into the last two games of the Ashes series. The English captain was pointing at the heavy criticism his team has come under after losing the bragging rights over the Ashes following an 82-run loss in the third test on Sunday.
The criticism further stirred up after some media reports of players partying on a trip to the Queensland resort of Noosa surfaced. Team director Rob Key on Tuesday promised to look into reports of excessive drinking in Noosa and Stokes said it had all left him with a big job to do in his role as the protector of the players.
“With the reports and everything circulating around right now, my main concern right now is my players,” Stokes told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where the fourth test starts on Friday.
“How I handle this moment right now is the most important thing to me. The welfare of everyone in there, and probably some certain individuals as well, is the most important thing to me right now.”
“This kind of stuff is something that I have firsthand experience of, how it can affect people. And my role as England captain is to protect my players as much as I possibly can. I will always protect my players as much as I possibly can. And right here, right now, that is my main job as England captain,” he added further.
Stokes has been one of the voices constantly taking up the issues related to mental health. He has been open about the challenges he faced in his career and also took a break in 2021 to focus on his well-being.
“It’s never a nice place to be when not only the media world but also the social media world is just piling on top of you,” Stokes said. “It’s a very tough, tough, tough place to be in as an individual, and when you know you’ve got the support of the people who are sort of leaders, it’s very good to know that you’ve got that support.”
Stokes appeared to be more concerned with the impact of leaked video on social media than more mainstream criticism of England’s cricket.
“When you are 3-0 down and you’ve lost the series, everything you say, everything you do, gets scrutinized, and rightly so,” he said. “You don’t really have a leg to stand on when you’ve lost three games in a huge series like this.” Stokes said England would name their team later on Wednesday.