Ben Stokes, leadership and the poisoned chalice that is the England captaincy

New York Times

4 hours ago

Few leadership roles in any sport replicate the responsibility and pressure on the cricket captain, where on-field performance must be combined with tactical acumen, shrewd decision-making, management and selection.
It is a position that has brought triumph and disaster to some of the best and most heralded figures in the game, with the particular scrutiny on the captain of England invariably leaving them close to broken by the end of their time in charge.
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There have been times when this has, truly, appeared 'the impossible job'.
Yet Ben Stokes, the one-time gifted problem child of the English game, faces India this week in the first of two defining series in his Test captaincy with the ringing endorsement of some of the most successful and high-profile figures to have held the post.
Since joining forces with coach Brendon McCullum in 2022, when England's Test cricket was at one of its perennial low ebbs, Stokes, 34, has led his side to victory in 20 of his 33 matches as captain, a win percentage of 60.6 that puts him ahead of all his comparable contemporaries.
And those former captains spoken to by The Athletic have nothing but praise for the man at the helm of England's attempt to re-define the longest and most traditional form of the game with a forever positive, often swashbuckling style of play.
'I really admire how Stokes has gone about it in so many different ways,' says Nasser Hussain, one of the best and most significant of all England captains.
'There were captains who led by example, like Graham Gooch, Andrew Strauss, Alastair Cook and Mike Atherton. There were leaders who had great tactical nous, like Michael Vaughan, and there were some who showed great man-management and empathy like Mike Brearley. But Stokes seems to tick all the boxes.
'He has emotional intelligence and a natural way of handling young players coming into the side. They love playing for him. He has that iron fist in a velvet glove, too. I wouldn't mess with him and you need that as a captain.
'I did a documentary on leadership for Sky and Jurgen Klopp told me, 'You need to be their friend but not their best friend.' That's Stokes in this England side.
'I read The Art of Captaincy by Brearley when I first got the job and I've always looked up to him, but Stokes is one of the best we've had. The only thing he needs to go back to doing now is get big runs because they have dried up a little bit.'
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Gooch was, like Stokes, something of a pioneer. Having been formally appointed captain as England digested a dire 1989 Ashes series, he brought a work ethic and professionalism that had been lacking in the England side over the previous decade.
'He's an exceptional captain, not only as a full-on cricketer who goes about it in the right way, but he does everything to give his team the opportunity to win,' says Gooch of Stokes.
'He reminds me of the way we used to play county cricket. To give yourself the best chance to win you have to take risks and that's what our Essex side did.
'There were some rough edges at the start of this era, but they are being smoothed out. You don't have to be the best cricketers but you do have to be the smartest and, with this ultra-attacking way England play, they do sometimes have to row back and play smart.
'We seem to be doing that better now as opposed to at times during the last Ashes. I do think Stokes has been an inspiration to his players and I've nothing but praise for him.'
David Gower experienced Rudyard Kipling's twin imposters more than most as captain in three eventful spells in charge in the 1980s and points to the maturing of a man in Stokes who came close to imploding as a young England player, notably when he was caught up in a brawl in Bristol that threatened to derail his whole international career.
'I'm hugely impressed with the way Stokes has changed,' Gower tells The Athletic. 'I've never known him closely, but 10 years ago he was a very different character.
'Look at him now and he ranks with the best of captains with the way he uses empathy, sympathy, understanding, drive, competitiveness and all the things you want from the captain. Between him and McCullum, they've created something very special.
'Stokes has turned himself into a mightily impressive package as captain. He appears born to leadership now, but it didn't look that way 10 years ago. He's acquired all those skills through lessons in life I guess.'
Hussain became England captain in 1999 at one of those low ebbs, after an appalling home World Cup and with the Test side about to be ranked worst in the world.
He began by being booed by the crowd while standing on the Oval balcony after defeat in his first series by New Zealand, but stepped down four years later having, in conjunction with coach Duncan Fletcher, won 17 of his 45 Tests in charge. More importantly, he had transformed the mindset of players who before then prioritised their counties.
'It's one of the best jobs in cricket,' insists Hussain, now a leading Sky commentator and columnist with the Daily Mail. 'Even in difficult times, and there were difficult times, you still regarded it as one of the best jobs you could have and I loved virtually every minute.
'When I started what England needed was a bit of a kick up the backside. Playing for England was important. Dropping catches and mis-fielding were not things to be giggled at. It wasn't a case anymore of: 'Never mind we'll just go back to playing for our counties.'
'But by the time we got to 2003 I was done. I was mentally exhausted, and then it needed players like Andrew Flintoff, Marcus Trescothick and Vaughan to go and express themselves. They didn't need an angry leader by then — they needed someone like Vaughan.
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'We wouldn't have won the Ashes in 2005 if I'd still been in charge. There is a shelf-life for these things. I spoke to (England's former white-ball captain) Jos Buttler the other day and he said, towards the end of his time in charge, it had got to him and he was constantly putting out fires. That's how it gets after a while. When you lose games it takes its toll and your brain becomes a bit scrambled.'
Gooch was charged with changing attitudes and personnel when he took over properly at the start of 1990 after a brief spell at the helm at the end of the haphazard summer of four captains in 1988. But not everyone wanted those attitudes changed.
'We were coming into an era of professionalism and there was a sea change in how we went about things,' says Gooch, who won 10 of his 34 Tests as captain but averaged an impressive 58.6 with the bat while in charge.
'Micky Stewart became the first manager of England in 1986 and aspects of our sport were beginning to change, in terms of fitness and the introduction of sports science.
'It was a rewarding time, but it caused friction — I can't say it didn't. The changes upset a few of the senior players.
'There are different styles of captaincy and I expected people to match up to the standards and work ethic I put in, which was probably a mistake. I didn't want to fall out with someone like David Gower, obviously, but I had certain ideas of what I wanted from him and we didn't quite see eye to eye on that.
'Personally I had the best part of my career when I was captain. It gave me an added direction, an added honour and of course, when I'm asked now what was the highlight of my career, I say it was when I was asked to captain my country.'
Gower, one of the best and most naturally talented of all England batters, was the anthesis of Gooch in so many ways — the cavalier to his roundhead — but carried the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune more heavily than he was given credit for.
From the huge highs of scoring 732 runs at a staggering average of 81 as captain in the Ashes victory against Australia in 1985 and a rare success at the helm in India, to the crushing lows of two 5-0 whitewashes against the West Indies and a debacle at the hands of the old enemy Australia in 1989, Gower saw it all.
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'The thing that always remains true between thick and thin is that it's an aspiration for any cricketer to captain their country,' he says. 'There were extreme emotions for me and, with plenty of time since, I'd say the good outweighed the bad. But the bad was bad.
'By the end of the summer of 1989 I was a pretty despondent character. But even when all the talk was, 'Is it time for someone else?', I thought, 'Well, I still quite like this job.' Even when you're losing games there's something about being England captain that defies belief. You say to people: 'We can turn this round, it doesn't have to be this way.'
'But at the end of that summer I did know what was coming. I knew I was going to be sacked and then you just say, OK, fine, that's the way that cookie has crumbled.'
The change of emphasis that was to come under Gooch was evident in the earlier appointment of Stewart. Gower accepts he did not only clash with his future captain when Gooch took charge, but with the new-fangled idea of a coach/manager.
'I had respect for Micky but there were a lot of things we disagreed on,' admits Gower. 'It was just that we were thinking differently and, on a political level, I sometimes learnt my lesson too late. If I'd been more embracing of him and his role it might have been better. But as it was, I tried to plough my own furrow and dictate as captain.
"You can do that if you're winning but you need a bit of support when things are going wrong. If you've pushed aside the man whose job it is to support then it gets trickier."
No one has had a trickier experience as England captain than Chris Cowdrey, whose one-match tenure will go down as the most bizarre example of the revolving-door summer of four captains in 1988 and the perils of the job.
Impossible? It was for Cowdrey.
He was appointed by his godfather, the chairman of selectors Peter May, and lost his only game against an all-conquering West Indies. The Kent all-rounder hurt his foot before his second game in charge and, even after returning to fitness, never played for England again.
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"It was hugely daunting," Cowdrey tells The Athletic. "I'd never played a home Test before and I was up against one of the greatest bowling attacks there has ever been at a ground in Headingley where, in those days, bowlers did well. I didn't have any clue what I was letting myself in for.
"But I'd been told by Peter May I had the job for the winter whatever happened and my mind wasn't thinking so much about that game, more about the next few weeks at Kent and the months ahead as England captain in India."
As it was, England were beaten by 10 wickets on their way to a 4-0 series defeat. Cowdrey was struck a painful blow by Somerset's Adrian Jones the following week while trying in vain to lead Kent to the County Championship title and, brutally, his time in charge of the national team was quietly curtailed.
"To this day I can only guess I was judged on my performance at Headingley where I got nought and five, but in a way that was irrelevant," says Cowdrey. "That is the only disappointment. That I was never told why. That I never gave it any real shot.
"But I've never had any ill feeling about that. I did say at the time how disappointed I was and it came out as me having a go at Micky Stewart. That wasn't my intention.
"I've had a lot of fun over the years with the 'Uncle Peter' thing. The truth is, and people don't really know this, but I didn't really know Peter May at all.
"I got a tenner through the post and a book token when his lovely wife Virginia, who I still see, remembered it was my birthday because I doubt he ever sent it. But that was it. He was just a quiet, lovely man and when he appointed me there was no mention of him being my godfather. It was irrelevant really — except to the rest of the world!
"To be fair it did put me under a bit more pressure because I knew if I failed some people would say: 'Well we know why he was picked'."
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Nothing sums up that manic summer of 1988 more than the fact there was actually a fifth England captain. As West Indies chased the 226 they needed for victory in the final Test at the Oval, Gooch split his finger attempting a catch and handed over to his Essex team-mate Derek Pringle. And he had the honour of overseeing an eight-wicket defeat.
"It didn't feel real," says Pringle. "It was the summer of four captains and me becoming a fifth, just for one day, was the last irony of it all.
"I don't think of myself as a former England captain. It came to me by complete happenstance but it was Goochie's job. He gave me my instructions.
"Goochie said: 'Open up with Daffy (Phil DeFreitas) and Fozzie (Neil Foster). Then you come on at Daffy's end, bowl Fozzie through and then Daffy comes back at his end. And whatever you do, don't let (David) Capel bowl…'
"Being captain of England for two sessions to be filed for me alongside appearing as an extra in Chariots of Fire. I captained England to another defeat against the best team in the world!"
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