Desperate England not pushing for Ben Stokes return

England are desperate to turn things around in the ongoing Test series after falling behind on the back of a hurting loss at Lord’s on Monday. They have dropped Dom Sibley from the top order—their second top-order batsman in two matches of the series and replaced him with Dawid Malan, who is touted to be a batsman with strong character.

England played with just four bowlers in the first Test of the series at Trent Bridge and the captain Joe Root clearly looked running out of options. To correct that and bring balance in the playing XI, they recalled Moeen Ali straight from The Hundred, where he was hitting boundaries for fun.

Moeen brought the balance to the side, but Root certainly seems to be missing his maverick in Ben Stokes, who used to turn things around both with the bat and ball, at least in English conditions.

The all-rounder had pulled out of the series to give himself some time off the game and also to rest his injured finger that gave him “ridiculous pain” while playing and leading England against Pakistan.

The England team management however is not in any hurry to force the issue with Stokes in terms of the length of his sabbatical. Coach Chris Silverwood has refused to push him to return and said that England management does not have any timeframe in mind and instead will wait for him to come and say when he is ready.

Silverwood said that what is important for England is that Stokes and his family are “ok” so that whenever he returns to play for the side, he is mentally perfect to perform at his best. He said that England are all for supporting him in the time of need and will welcome his back with “open arms”.

“No, there is no pushing from my point of view. I don’t think you can push with these issues. I will wait and there will be an element of waiting for him to come to me to let me know he is ready. There is no time limit on it,” Silverwood said.

“I would stress again the important thing is Ben is okay, his family is okay and that he comes back strong and, when he re-enters the frame, he is ready in his mind to come back and perform for England like we know he can.”

“I am certainly not pushing him for an answer and I don’t think that would be the right thing to do. There are people around him supporting him and, when he is ready to come back in, we will welcome him with open arms, but until then he will get all the support he needs.”

England have suffered setbacks one after another as players of the highest order such as Stokes, Stuart Broad have been ruled out of the series. They are 0-1 down the five-match series and have some more injury concerns to deal with after Mark Wood hurt his shoulder on the fourth day and James Anderson barely managing to be fit for the Lord’s Test.

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Smith, Warner, Maxwell, Cummins return to Aaron Finch-led Australian side for World T20

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David Gower blames Joe Root for 'emotional tactics' during Lord's Test

When arguably the most stylish left-hander to have graced the game, David Gower says that the world has gone mad after the partnership between Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah in the Lord’s Test, most of us are bound to feel the same way. The reaction of Gower was abridging of every single person who had watched the final day’s play of the Lord’s Test. “The world has gone mad. The world has gone completely mad when you’ve got Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah sharing a partnership of 89 on the fifth morning. No one, not even their parents, or their close family, would have predicted that one,” Gower said. When the final day started, England was on the cusp of a victory with India just leading by 154 runs with just Rishabh Pant and the bowlers to follow. When they got Pant early in the day, things looked quite gloomy for India until a bizarre tactical move by Joe Root turned the game on its head. When Jasprit Bumrah came out to the crease, the English bowlers allowed their emotions to take control as they kept firing a barrage of short deliveries at Bumrah reminding him of the similar medicine which he had given to James Anderson at the fag end of Day 2. “How often do we say to people in one-day cricket, when the ball is flying everywhere, ‘how bout the yorker?’ How often when the yorker works, do we see the stumps rearranged. That’s the sort of delivery I think should be bowled in these circumstances more often. Aim at the stumps, full and straight, if you get it right, the tail-enders sometimes struggle with that,” Gower said. After getting hit on the head twice and dealing with the verbal volleys, both Shami and Bumrah became resilient and started to defy the English attack with their sensible style of play. With most of the fielders being pushed as boundaries riders, singles became as easy to get as getting newspapers by a roadside stall. Both Bumrah and Shami cashed in and started piling on the agony on the English bowlers. Their unbeaten partnership of 89 runs made sure that only two results were possible in the match, an Indian win or a draw. Taking nothing away from the efforts of the two tail-enders, Gower blamed Root for the ‘emotional tactics’ which eventually played into the hands of both Bumrah and Shami. “What was interesting about the final hour was that the passion and emotions got too much for England. Yes they’d been stirred up with the Bumrah and Anderson stuff, but it’s amazing how when your emotions take control, your carefully laid plans could become mislaid plans. Every Root had to admit that he got his tactics wrong,” Gower said speaking exclusively to Cricket.com, reviewing the Lord’s Test. “Captaincy is one of those things where sometimes you think you’re getting a hang of it. But then you have days like the final morning, and you realize that you’re still learning. In truth, you’re always learning - every day you’re captain of any national team. “But this is not the first time he’s been in such a situation. Those are the situations that can make or break a game. As we can now see very very vividly. That’s where a captain has to be able to say to himself and his players, ‘Look, this is our plan. Let’s not lose control.’ and that’s what I’m sure he regrets most,” Gower said.