I admit I wasn't expecting much of Stokes as captain, I thought it was
another example of appoint your best player. I was wrong, he is astute,
a good leader, and his calculated risks largely pay off. You can't
really ask for more in a skipper.
Steve Hague

On Mon, 12 Dec 2022 10:25:46 +0000, steve hague
<stevehague82@gmail.com> wrote:

>I admit I wasn't expecting much of Stokes as captain, I thought it was
>another example of appoint your best player. I was wrong, he is astute,
>a good leader, and his calculated risks largely pay off. You can't
>really ask for more in a skipper.

I was horribly afraid that he was going to be a repeat of Botham and
Flintoff.

It's interesting that subconsciously we assume that anyone who is
capable of the kind of explosive violence all three of these
all-rounders have been known to unleash on the field is probably as
subtle as a flying mallet and has less than six braincells.
Particularly because Botham is the worst sort of pub bore known to
mankind.

It turns out that he's on course to be one of the most significant
Test captains in the history of the game. Apart from Brook replacing
Bairstow pro tem, this is basically the same rabble which used to lose
for fun under Root. Few captains have ever had such a transformative
effect.

Brearley came back, freed Botham from the cares of office, showed some
serious tactical nous, won a series and retired. Lasting effect: zero.

Perhaps a more sensible comparison is Clive Lloyd, who took over a
team which was faction-ridden and whose players performed if they felt
like it but not if they didn't and made them into the most dominant
side of all time. If Stokes achieves that final result, I think we'll
all be pretty pleased. Except those with what amount to aesthetic
objections.

And Stokes also has a vision of what's wrong with the current
structure of the game and a thought-out mission to rescue the most
rewarding and difficult variant of the sport, which is certainly more
indicative of thought than the Botham/Flintoff strategy of working out
the quickest way to the bar.

It's quite fun being wrong.

Cheers,

Mike

On Monday, 12 December 2022 at 10:25:48 UTC, steve hague wrote:
> I admit I wasn't expecting much of Stokes as captain, I thought it was
> another example of appoint your best player. I was wrong, he is astute,
> a good leader, and his calculated risks largely pay off. You can't
> really ask for more in a skipper.

Same here. I sense what you're seeing is what Australia could have become under Warne (although they might have had a coach with more of a hand on the brake than McCullum!)

Also agree with Mike that I thought Stokes would become another Flintoff and over-burden himself with bowling work but it seems as though he saves himself for the really desperate moments to do "one of those spells".

Richard

On Mon, 12 Dec 2022 03:17:25 -0800 (PST), Richard Dixon
<richsdixon1975@gmail.com> wrote:

>Also agree with Mike that I thought Stokes would become another Flintoff and over-burden himself with bowling work but it seems as though he saves himself for the really desperate moments to do "one of those spells".

In that sense, it's probably no bad thing that he has a dodgy knee,
because it means he can't overbowl himself. And it probably also helps
that he doesn't think he's a very good bowler and that the other guys
are better.

Cheers,

Mike

In message <tn6vja$1mjv$1@gioia.aioe.org>, steve hague
<stevehague82@gmail.com> writes
>I admit I wasn't expecting much of Stokes as captain, I thought it was
>another example of appoint your best player.

I had thought that too. I was also afraid that the captaincy would
over-burden him, given how much effort he put into his batting and
bowling (and fielding too come to that).

> I was wrong, he is astute, a good leader, and his calculated risks
>largely pay off. You can't really ask for more in a skipper.
>Steve Hague

Indeed. He's been sensational.
--
John Hall
"Home is heaven and orgies are vile,
But you *need* an orgy, once in a while."
Ogden Nash (1902-1971)