Ben Stokes wants to see a more relentless approach from England after their tour of India ended in an innings and 64-run defeat inside three days.
The result in Dharamsala meant the hosts clinched a convincing 4-1 series win, with Stokes’ side’s sole victory having come in a thrilling 28-run triumph in Hyderabad in the first match.
England’s captain conceded his team were very much second-best in the four Tests which followed and demanded they make more of the occasional bright spots which emerged even in those defeats.
“Since the first Test match of the series, we’re man enough and big enough to say we were outplayed by the better team,” Stokes said.
“If you look at the game and the series as a whole, there have been really small moments throughout every Test match where we’ve wrestled a bit of momentum back towards us, we’ve just not really been able to maintain and keep that going.
“In Test-match cricket, especially out here where the game can turn really fast on you, it’s about understanding that and trying to understand those moments and being a bit more relentless with it.
“How that looks, I’m not sure, but we’re all here at the highest level, playing cricket, and I think we all know as individuals that’s where it has gone wrong for us on more than one occasion.”
The manner of the defeat in Dharamsala brought more questions around England’s attacking approach with the bat, particularly after several players failed to build on promising starts in both innings.
Zak Crawley’s 79 in the first innings and Joe Root’s 84 in the second made them the only England batters to pass 50 in the fifth Test, with spin duo Ravi Ashwin and Kuldeep Yadav doing most of the damage for India with match figures of 9-128 and 7-112 respectively.
But while Stokes, who averaged under 20 with the bat and made just 199 runs across all five Tests, acknowledged the risk-reward dichotomy of taking on the hosts’ attack in unfamiliar conditions, the 32-year-old insisted there was method behind the approach.
“When India get on top, especially with the ball, you see a lot of men come around the bat and when you’ve got the quality bowlers they do…you’ve got to find ways of getting guys around the bat out of there,” Stokes said.
England found it tough going against India’s spinner in Dharamsala
“Sometimes that comes with risk and risk doesn’t always pay off, but you get a couple of sweeps away and you find you’ve only got one man around the bat.
“You’ve just got to be positive enough to be able to take that risk and know sometimes it can be your downfall, but it’s one of those things where you can look at it and say ‘could I have done something better?’
“When the intent and the application is there with the reasons to why you’re playing that shot, you can’t hold your hands up and say too much else.”
Stokes: I don’t know when Anderson is going to stop
One of the few moments of cheer for England in the fifth Test came on the morning day three when James Anderson joined the elite by becoming the first fast bowler and only the third bowler overall in Test history to take 700 wickets when he had Kuldeep caught behind.
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Nasser Hussain says James Anderson reaching 700 Test wickets is a ‘phenomenal’ achievement and now the great Shane Warne’s record of 708 wickets will be in his sights.
It took him to a milestone only spin duo Muttiah Muralitharan (800) and the late Shane Warne (708) had previously reached and is unlikely to be matched by another pace specialist.
Stokes was full of praise for Anderson, who made his Test debut in 2003, and does not expect the 41-year-old to be calling time on his career any time soon.
“I’ve been lucky to be on the field for some of the milestones Jimmy has got to but being there for 700 wickets as a seamer was quite phenomenal,” Stokes said.
“I’ve said many a time, he’s someone any young kid who wants to be a fast bowler should look up to and try to emulate everything he has done from the day he started being a cricketer, let alone being an international cricketer, to where he is now.
“He’s 41 years old, he’s as fit as I ever seen him, I honestly don’t know when he is going to stop. The desire, the commitment and everything is still there, and it’s great to watch.”
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