It was only last month that Chris Woakes had termed Ben Stokes as a “superhuman” after the left-hander smashed 182 runs in an ODI against New Zealand at The Oval in just his third ODI on return from retirement.
Now, with England conceding a massive 9-wicket thumping by the hands of New Zealand in the World Cup 2023 opening match, which Ben Stokes missed due to a hip niggle, fast bowler Mark Wood said that neither Stokes is any “Superman” and that not everything in their team is about “messiah Stokesy”.
Not everything about “messiah” Ben Stokes, says Wood
Is this a sign of a rift among the players in the England team? Are there groups forming in the England camp, for the first time in over a decade after the Andrew Strauss-Kevin Pietersen drama where one man was touted as bigger than the team by a few?
In the absence of Stokes, Harry Brook played in his first ODI WC match. He started in an attractive fashion, cracking four boundaries and a six before attempting one too many boundary and getting caught in deep.
On being asked whether England missed Ben Stokes in their shattering defeat to New Zealand, Mark Wood gave a stern reply.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. He’s not Superman. It’s not all just about the messiah Stokesy coming back and him doing everything. He’s obviously one of our best players, if not our best player, but all the lads have to stand up as well. He’s got strapping round his leg, which is helping. He’ll have to get in the nets and see if the strapping does its job and allows him to move how he wants,” Wood said, as quoted by BBC.
Jos Buttler’s team will look to bounce back in their next game, which will be against Shakib’s Bangladesh on October 10 in Dharamsala.
Wood said: “A great trait of the group is resilience and bouncing back, and calmness within the group. I trust every member in there: they’ve been through bad times and good times. [We’ll use it] to prove that we want to keep this trophy, to prove people wrong and there’ll be question marks now. But as a group, we believe in each other and it’s another chance for us to show how good a side we are.”
