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Is Ben Stokes slowly becoming a liability for England? This has become a topic of discussion among cricket experts during the ongoing England vs New Zealand Test at Lord’s. Just a few years ago, Stokes was considered one of the best all-rounders in this format, who single-handedly won many matches for the England cricket team.
His struggle against New Zealand is visible in both batting and bowling. Two former England players Michael Atherton and Mark Butcher were in the news about the downfall of Ben Stokes. Both of them nodded in agreement that this was not the same Ben Stokes that the cricket world had seen in recent times.
Ben Stokes’ struggle continues in Tests
After the disastrous Ashes series in Australia, the ongoing 3-match Test series is no less than an acid test for the Three Lions. Stokes was one of those cricketers whose form was heavily criticized due to the poor results in the Ashes.
After a long break, he came into action. Meanwhile, he needed to work on his fitness and form. Still, he is not even close to his peak. In the ongoing match, Stokes found himself demoted in the batting order, coming in as the number 7 batsman behind emerging cricketer Jamie Smith in both innings. Stoke after Jamie Smith, something that certainly caught the eye, but on the wrong note.
This is the real fall – Michael Atherton
On the Lord’s pitch, where the seamer has been enjoying his runs, the England captain has been wicketless so far. With the bat, he scored only 12 and 0 runs in the first and second innings respectively.
Michael Atherton said on Sky Sports, “It’s a real drop… dropping himself to number seven behind Jamie Smith probably means as much to him as how highly he rates Jamie Smith.”
“Since being ranked number three in the world, so we’re talking about six, almost six years between now and then, he has played 60 Test matches and nine matches in the longer formats, in the red ball formats, outside of that.”
Ben Stokes gave his best performance
Stokes is currently 35, has endured a number of injury problems, and may have slowly reached his best form over the last few years. Former cricketers also say that age could be a reason behind the poor performance of the star all-rounder in recent times.
“As far as why, I mean, he doesn’t look any different player, and as you get older, sometimes the reaction slows down; his bowling has gone that way, and his batting has gone that way. Captaincy plays into that, you know, you’ll remember. He hasn’t played a lot of cricket outside, for a number of reasons, injuries and all sorts of things,” said Mark Butcher.
“This is a real decline…is this the tipping point?”
“He hasn’t played enough cricket!”Sky Sports pundits discuss Ben Stokes’ batting form and future as England captain. pic.twitter.com/iHCZu7QMa5
– Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) June 7, 2026
Read more: “Haven’t even taken the captaincy yet”: Kris Srikkanth questions Ajit Agarkar on Akshar Patel giving away vice-captaincy to Tilak Verma
