Ben Stokes has enough on his plate: Former captain David Gower

Ex-skipper David Gower feels Stokes should not be forced to lead England in the wake of Ashes debacle

Former England captain David Gower has said that Ben Stokes should not be pushed into the captaincy role as he has “enough on his plate” and hasn’t had a great comeback in the ongoing Ashes series in Australia.

With England having lost the Ashes after three successive defeats—Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne—there are calls back home in England to look for Joe Root’s alternative to lead the team. With Stokes enjoying a good rapport with teammates, several former cricketers and critics are demanding the all-rounder be given the reins of the Test side.

David Gower

Dissecting the England Test team leadership dynamics, Gower said on Tuesday that now is not the time for Stokes to be made captain.

‘Stokes is very instinctive’

“[Stokes] would make a good fist of it because he’s a very instinctive, strong character, and at the moment that’s the sort of character this England side need,” Gower told sen.com.au’s Sportsday. 

“Whatever happens in the next two games [Sydney and Hobart], when they go home and start again, they’re going to need to find some new energy from somewhere,” said the England great.

Good mates

On the relationship between Root and Stokes, Gower said that the two were “good mates” and entirely loyal to each other.

Gower felt there was no use putting the pressure of captaincy on Stokes who had returned to the side for the Ashes after nearly six months of staying away from the game to resolve his mental health issues and finger injury. “Stokes at the moment, with this comeback, which hasn’t really gone as well as he would have liked so far, he’s got enough on his plate. I’ve always said with someone like Ben Stokes, you want that sort of de facto leadership in the room, having someone around like Ben around lifts the room and he can do that without being officially captain, he can do that without having to worry about all the other stuff,” opined Gough.

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