When England won the first Test match against Pakistan it was thought England would win the series comfortably. Nevertheless, it wasn’t the case as the series concluded as 2-1 in Pakistan’s favour as the side collected their first ever Test series victory since 2021.
The time has not been good for Ben Stokes and England as well. But they are unlikely to change their batting line-up in their upcoming series against New Zealand.
Stokes would back his top six in the upcoming tours as he thinks he has the “best” top six
“There’s no doubt in my mind that we have got the best top six batsmen in England.” said Stokes talking to Sky Sports
The English team looked awful against spin as they lost their 39 wickets to spin in the last two Test games and scored only 814 runs. Ollie Pope was a massive disappointment at number 3 making 55 runs at 11, while Zak Crawley was troubled by Nauman Ali’s spin.
But Stokes and Brendon McCullum suggested firmly that there are unlikely to be major changes to their batting line-up.
“They’re the best players in England,” Stokes told Sky Sports. “We play all around the world and going to New Zealand in a couple of weeks’ time is going to be completely different [to Pakistan]. But there’s no doubt in my mind, no doubt in Brendon’s mind, that we have got the best top-six players in England.
“You can’t shut the door on everything, because then you’re just being very single-minded towards what you want to do. But going back to the point before, there’s no doubt in my mind that we have got the best top-six batsmen in England. Sometimes guys will reap the rewards of performing well out in the middle, and unfortunately, some other guys will miss out.”
McCullum also backed struggling Pope and said it is not easy to bat at number 3 in Test cricket.
“It is not an easy place to bat at No. 3,” he told the BBC. “I know Popey will be disappointed with the volume of runs he got in this series, but I expect him to bounce back strongly in New Zealand and we will make sure he’s got the required support around him to do so.
“Obviously, Popey’s had a bit of a tough tour in terms of his output of runs… [but] we know that when Popey gets in, he makes big scores – and makes defining scores as well…We’ve got a pretty good idea of what the make-up of the squad will be for New Zealand, with the conditions that we’ll be confronted with.”
Stokes also praised his young spinners, even though they were outdone by the Pakistan’s experienced campaigners but according to Stokes, his spinners did a “fantastic job”
“I think they’ve done a fantastic job to take the wickets that they’ve done.
“Shoaib in particular, ” I said to him the other day, ‘You are getting to learn on the job here. You’re getting to learn about yourself as a bowler through the Test match”
“You’re able to work out how to bowl in different conditions at different phases of the game, and how exciting, how good is that?’ He absolutely loved it.”
England and New Zealand will play a three-match Test series starting from November 28th.
