“Go out and entertain people for five days in a row”: Ben Stokes shares how he’s working to remove pressure of international Cricket from his players as England Test captain

Ben Stokes shares his approach towards playing international Cricket in a way that it helps remove the unwarranted pressure from his players.

From the Bristol club crawl to winning the World Cup for England, and from the triumph in the ever famous Headingley Test, to taking a mental health break from the sport he loves the most, Ben Stokes has perhaps seen it all in his decade old international career so far.

An Amazon series documentary – ‘Ben Stokes: Phoenix from the Ashes’, talks about this very journey of the champion all-rounder rising to the top, who has now been handed the responsibility to proudly lead the English Test side.

The present journey, for the sake of which he even decided to retire from the ODI format, commenced with a new, fresh approach with the assistance of the aggressive, former Kiwi international batter Brendon McCullum, known as the ‘Bazball’.

Four wins off the first four Tests, all of them while chasing scores above 275 runs, the 31-year-old has yet again began like the champion that he is, amidst abundant praises and criticisms as well, that always come the way of players of his caliber.

Ben Stokes shares his approach towards playing international Cricket

During an interaction session while promoting his Amazon documentary series, the England Test captain did share some of his invaluable insights, one of which concerned with his approach towards playing international Cricket, without taking the undue pressure that comes the way.

Stokes shed light on how he helps his teammates, in the capacity of the skipper, to treat the sport like an entertainment business, and thus keep the pressure at bay, despite the weight of expectations.

He stated that cricketers forget that fans, unlike the players, treat the game as a source of entertainment, and expect the men on the field to provide them with the same, throughout the five days of Test Cricket.

“Something I have tried to bring in is to remove the pressure of international cricket among the players. Sometimes we tend to forget that we are in the entertainment business. People come to watch us play because we are at the top level of our sport and sport is entertainment,” said Stokes, while talking about his approach to the game as a captain.

“So, we have to go out and entertain people for five days in a row, every session. And if we play good cricket, we give ourselves a good chance of winning. If we play poorly, we lose. It is simple,” he further added.

The Durham all-rounder is presently leading England in a three-match Test series at home against South Africa.