{"id":248233,"date":"2025-07-08T14:44:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T14:44:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/248233\/"},"modified":"2025-07-08T14:44:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T14:44:13","slug":"ind-vs-eng-michael-atherton-slams-ben-stokes-after-2nd-test-defeat-calls-him-one-format-player-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/248233\/","title":{"rendered":"IND vs ENG: Michael Atherton slams Ben Stokes after 2nd Test defeat, calls him ‘one-format player’ | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"INDEngland batter Ben Stokes reacts after being dismissed during day five of the Second Test Match against India at Edgbaston (Image by Stu Forster\/Getty Images) Former England captain Michael Atherton has raised serious questions about Ben Stokes<\/a>‘ declining batting form and leadership, especially after England’s heavy defeat to India in the second Test at Edgbaston. Calling it the “sternest test” of Stokes\u2019 captaincy so far, Atherton highlighted how the all-rounder’s batting returns have dipped with each passing year since taking over the reins. \u201cTo add to the problems of back-to-back matches, little rest, a heavy defeat and bad judgment is his own form with the bat, which has declined with each year he has been in the job,\u201d Atherton wrote in his column for The Times. The third Test at Lord\u2019s will mark two years since Stokes last scored a Test hundred, which was his 13th, against Australia in the Ashes. Atherton believes his current position, playing just one format by choice, leaves him underprepared at a critical time. \u201cAs a dedicated one-format player who does not play much cricket<\/a> outside Tests \u2014 sometimes of his own accord \u2014 Stokes is in the invidious position of being short of rhythm and form just when he needs to lead from the front,\u201d Atherton added.<\/p>\n

Shubman Gill, Gautam Gambhir shut critics with thumping win over England<\/p>\n

Drawing a contrast, Atherton praised Indian captain Shubman Gill for his composure and technique against spin. \u201cWhile Stokes has looked shaky against spin, his opposite number is lording it. Gill\u2019s returns in this series have been immense and the victory at Edgbaston was driven by his vision, determination and single-mindedness. \u201cEngland have a plan to Gill to target his stumps early on, by running the ball back into his pads, but he has not looked like getting out. Gill\u2019s weariness after Edgbaston will be of a completely different kind to Stokes’s.\u201d On England\u2019s bowling front, Atherton called for changes ahead of the Lord\u2019s Test. He backed the inclusion of Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson despite their limited red-ball workload in recent times. \u201cClearly the pace attack needs freshening up. When the SOS went to Archer in 2019 at Lord\u2019s as a way of stopping Steve Smith, the fast bowler was at the top of his game, despite not having played Test cricket. Will he be as good as before? Can he be? His readiness for the five-day game after just one first-class match in four years is a complete unknown, yet he will surely play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Poll<\/p>\n

Do you think Ben Stokes should continue as captain after the recent defeat?<\/p>\n

Atherton also highlighted Atkinson\u2019s record at the venue. \u201cGus Atkinson has a tremendous record at Lord\u2019s, with ball and bat, but has not played since tweaking his hamstring against Zimbabwe six weeks ago. Pairing with Archer represents a gamble, but if taken (one must assume they are fit once selected in the squad) it means that the third seamer must be ready to bowl long spells.\u201d He noted that Chris Woakes, despite his history at Lord\u2019s, has had a poor series. \u201cYet (Chris) Woakes, who also has a superb record at Lord\u2019s, is 36 years old and has taken three wickets at an average of 96 in this series. His possible replacement, Sam Cook, was unconvincing in his only Test,\u201d Atherton stated. Despite the challenges, Atherton urged caution over reactionary changes. \u201cPanicked changes are rarely the way to go after defeat. I\u2019d keep faith with the batting and freshen up the seam attack, bringing in Archer and Atkinson for Josh Tongue and Brydon Carse. Right now, though, you\u2019d want to be in Gill\u2019s shoes not England\u2019s. What a test of leadership this is for Stokes.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"England batter Ben Stokes reacts after being dismissed during day five of the Second Test Match against India…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":248234,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4101],"tags":[43331,94613,96009,96012,96013,1406,11096,96011,88884,79,96010,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-248233","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-ben-stokes","9":"tag-ben-stokes-batting","10":"tag-ben-stokes-england","11":"tag-ben-stokes-form","12":"tag-ben-stokes-stats","13":"tag-cricket","14":"tag-cricket-news","15":"tag-england-captain","16":"tag-india-england","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-stokes","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114818152399304061","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=248233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/248233\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/248234"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=248233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=248233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=248233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}