London 20 August : England skipper Ben Stokes has stated that he is not the type of player who gets angry after a loss and added that he is “absolutely excellent” despite losing by one inning and 12 runs against South Africa in the opening Test at Lord’s on Friday.The devastating loss that followed four consecutive Test victories against New Zealand and India gave England an opportunity to reflect on their position and forced them to think about a reconsideration of their offensive strategy, which brought the team huge rewards in previous matches, but failed to work against the Proteas.
South Africa bowled out England for England for 149 in the second innings and won by 12 runs and an innings to maintain their dominance at the Lord’s since the venue’s re-admission.South Africa have had five wins of the seven tests played played at Lord’s since 1992.while losing only once.
The second Test is scheduled to take place in Manchester starting on August 25.Stokes said it was an issue of execution.The team will focus on this aspect to get back to their winning ways.It was the fourth time England lost an innings in 128 years of Test cricket at Lord’s and the first time since the South Africa team led by Graeme Smith enjoyed a similar beating in 2003 according to supersport.com.
“It was an off-game , which is acceptable,” said Stokes.”It’s certainly not something I’m planning to throw the toys out of the pram for.”
“The message I will be sending to Baz (coach Brendon McCullum) upstairs will be: did we really commit to everything in the same way as we did for during the initial four tests of the summer? If everyone is able to say “yes, 100 that we did, but we didn’t do it the way we wanted to, then everything is good.We’ll now move into the next test match and go out and attempt to win,” the all-rounder added.
Stokes who replaced Joe Root after England’s loss in the series of Tests against the West Indies, said he was looking forward to the next game at Old Trafford.
“If we cling to this too long and carry this baggage to the next match, we’re one step further behind South Africa,” he added.”I would like for us to become a team that we’re one step ahead of the game.”
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