Pat Cummins admits he wouldn't have made controversial Ben Stokes Ashes decision

21 June 2023 , 08:50

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Pat Cummins admits he wouldn't have made controversial Ben Stokes Ashes decision

Australia captain Pat Cummins has admitted he would not have declared on day one of the first Ashes Test like his England counterpart Ben Stokes did.

Having racked up 393-8 and with Joe Root unbeaten on 118, Stokes boldly declared to give his bowlers four overs at Australian openers David Warner and Usman Khawaja. However, England were unable to dismiss either Warner or Khawaja on day one and, with Australia going on to win the Test by just two wickets, there was some criticism of Stokes' decision.

When asked if he would have declared with Australia 393-8 and their best batter on 118 not out, Cummins admitted: "Probably not, no. I wasn't overly surprised, but the wicket felt pretty good so I thought every run was pretty much needed in that first innings."

However, Stokes insisted he had no regrets over his declaration and felt it was a good opportunity to try and dismiss Warner and Khawaja cheaply. "I thought that was a time to pounce," he told BBC Test Match Special.

"I am not going to change the way I have gone about my cricket because it is the Ashes. Who knows we could have got an extra 40 runs or lost two wickets in two balls. I am not a captain who gets by on what ifs."

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England's 2005 Ashes winning captain Michael Vaughan claimed after the game that he could "guarantee" Stokes would not declare if his side are in the same position in the second Test at Lord's.

But when that was put to Stokes at his press conference, he replied: "If we were in the same position? Yeah. I would like to be 398 for 6 with 20 minutes left. That would be great.

Australia captain Pat Cummins says he would not have declared like Ben Stokes on day one (Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

"I could also turn it around and say, 'if we didn't declare, would we have got the excitement that we did at the end of day five?' I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I'm not going to be looking back on this game as 'what ifs'... the reality is, we just didn't manage to get over the line."

Stokes also insisted England would be ready to bounce back at Lord's, adding: "It's not a psychological blow at all. We've lost but if you look at the way we've played, compared to how the last few Ashes series have gone, it proves what we're capable of doing against Australia.

"Losing sucks but the way we applied ourselves literally from ball one proves we're able to stand up to Australia... We've got four games left and that's what we're going to be concentrating on."

Matthew Cooper