The Ashes | Ben Stokes has 'no ambition' to lead England, endorses Root to continue as Test skipper

All-rounder Ben Stokes has downplayed the discussion surrounding the change in leadership of the England Test side and has thrown his weight behind the struggling duo of Joe Root and Chris Silverwood, who has been in the eye of a storm after the Ashes series loss in Australia. 

He also underplayed his own candidature to replace Root as the skipper if he were to step down from captaincy after the conclusion of the Ashes series and said that he never had any “ambition” to be the leader of the side. 

Stokes argued that the call of leadership lies with Root himself and that only he is the best man to assess his standings with respect to leading the England Test side in the near future.

The all-rounder pointed out that not all the responsibility for the problems that England struggled with in the first three Tests of the series should rest on Root and Silverwood’s shoulder and said that leadership is a lot more than what appears obvious on the field. 

He extended the best possible support one can offer to the captain of the side and said that Root is still the captain he would want to play for in one of the most strongest endorsements Root would have received in the past few days after the loss at the MCG.

“I’ve said I’ve never really had an ambition to be a captain. That’s totally Joe’s decision. He shouldn’t be forced into doing it. I’m sure Cooky felt the same way. He did it for so long. When he knew his time was up, his time was up. Those discussions haven’t even entered anywhere near Joe yet,” Stokes said at the Sydney Cricket Ground before the fourth Ashes Test.

“I don’t sense that (problems) at all with Joe. He’s brought this team a long way. He’s done some great things. Obviously, this series hasn’t gone too well. Not from a captaincy point of view but from a team and results point of view. Unfortunately, the captain and coach bear the scrutiny for that but there are 10 other guys out there in the field besides the captain.

“At the end of the day, the most important people’s opinions are those guys in the dressing room and [Root and Silverwood] have our thorough support.

“Captaincy is more than about setting fields, picking the team, making decisions out in the middle. A captain is someone you play for. Joe Root is someone I always want to play for. Chris Silverwood is exactly the same. He’s a real players’ coach. He stands up for you as individuals and players as well.”

Notably, Stokes was a later entrant to the England Test side before the Ashes series and he played his first competitive cricket in months during the first Test of the series in Brisbane. 

Stokes’ workload and mental health issues have always been discussed as factors diminishing his candidature for captaincy and his strong endorsement of Root’s captaincy and reluctance to lead the side would also make life difficult for the England and Wales Cricket Board if indeed they are looking to ring in changes after the Ashes series.