Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton have called for England captain Ben Stokes to avoid ‘too much tinkering’ in the nets by playing more competitive matches ahead of the Test summer.
While Stokes’ bowling has excelled in the County Championship – the England skipper has taken the new ball and notched five wickets in two matches for Durham – but his batting has not seen the same results, with Stokes managing just 59 runs in the tournament thus far.
The decline has caught the attention of Durham head coach Ryan Campbell, who implored Stokes to stay away from ‘bad habits’ picked up by too much time in the nets – advice that Nasser and Athers agree with.
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On the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discuss whether Ben Stokes’ approach to captaincy will change this summer.
“I think actually that sums up Stokes’ game and his batting in that he just has lacked a little bit of game time generally – Now, there’s all kinds of reasons for that,” Atherton said on the Sky Sports Cricket podcast.
“You know, injury broke, fractured cheekbone, other injuries that he’s had. But he’s somebody who doesn’t like to play matches necessarily outside of the internationals.
“But I think that point about over-netting and lacking competitive game time is a good point.”
“I think the problem sometimes with Stokes, because he can’t bowl, he bats a lot in the nets and he’s injured and he’s in the nets batting,” Hussain added.
“But he tinkers a little bit too much. He went through a phase 18 months ago where he started copying Harry Brook’s very upright stance, whereas Ben has good rhythm with it.
“And then he’ll tinker with his position on the crease. He’ll tinker with his triggers. And he’s constantly tinkering.
“I think he’s at the stage of it where you can tinker too much. I think he’s at the stage of a career now where he should get a technique and not tinker and just go back to being a very natural player.”
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Ben Stokes has reaffirmed that he and Brendon McCullum are aligned with their vision and hopes they’ll still be working together at the end of 2027.
Stokes has more than proved his worth at every level of cricket – but Atherton insists that the process should remain the same regardless of status.
“I also think, though, that no matter how old and experienced you are, you still need to have some competitive game time. You can’t switch it on. I mean, some people can switch it on and off like a tap, more so than others.
“But I do think even for the best, a bit of a bit of competitive game time is a good thing.”
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Nasser Hussain admits he was pleased with England’s win over New Zealand but is not going over the top ahead of the T20 World Cup.
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