Chasing 26 in the first Test against New Zealand, England batsmen scored 3.54 runs for more. Johnny Bairstow-Ben Stokes appeared in the second Test against the Kiwis in a more terrifying way, when the discussion began about how it is possible to score such an average in the fourth inning! They scored in the fourth inning of the second Test with an average of 5.96!
Bairstow-Roots appears to be making this fourth-inning run average so-so. They averaged 5.45 in the third Test against New Zealand and 4.93 against India today. If anyone talks about giving Test cricket a "new life" to the Stokes, they can't be wrong!
But the new England captain said coaches and players from opposing teams will have big creases on their foreheads. This is the meaning of Stokes' words: Test cricket has not yet been given a new lease of life, the England players want to give it. That means England will continue to play such aggressive cricket and will probably be even more aggressive in the future!
After winning the match against India today, Stokes said: "We are trying to rewrite the way Test cricket has been played, especially the way England have played Test cricket. We want to breathe new life into Test cricket. ... We are bringing new fans to Test cricket.'
How do English batsmen bat aggressively to chase runs? Revealing the secret, Stokes quoted a mantra from spinner Jack Leach: "We keep the score." I don't see how many careers to pursue. The real problem is taking land. Sometimes a team will be better than us. But there will be no team braver than us.'
Stokes ended his conversation with Sky Sports at the end of the match, saying: 'I almost wanted them to score 450 runs. I wanted to see what we would do then.'
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