Former Australia captain Tim Paine has stated that England’s belief that they are “completely changing the game” and “doing this amazing stuff and everyone’s going to remember it” is misplaced.
The ECB recently released a documentary on the 2023 Ashes, which was a bittersweet series for both sides. England came from 0-2 down to level the series 2-2, keeping Australia still searching for their first series win in England since 2001. However, Australia went on to retain the Ashes, as they have done since 2017/18.
In the documentary, England captain Ben Stokes claimed that England’s current brand of playing Test cricket – often referred to as Bazball – “will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket”.
After winning the third Test, England were the dominant team in the fourth match as well. They secured a 275-run lead and had Australia at 214-5, but rain denied them any chance of a win. England had to remain content with a win in the final Test and a drawn series, but had to concede the Ashes.
During the fourth Test, at Old Trafford, Stokes told his teammates: “Everything we’ve done up until now isn’t going to stop because we haven’t managed to win the urn back. The reward for our work isn’t what we get but what we become, and what we have managed to do is we’ve managed to become a sports team that will live forever in the memory of people who were lucky enough to witness us play cricket.
“I know it’s going to be a bit flat, I know it’s going to hurt that we go into the next game not being able to get the urn back, but what we have done is something a lot bigger than any Ashes trophy could ever signify for this team: be the team that everybody will always remember.”
Fox Sports took a dig at Stokes, calling his words “bizarre”. Stokes explained why he said what he did, finishing his post on X with a “rent free and all that” jibe.
Said this to the team who had watched it rain for 2 days when we had our foot on your throats, just tried to cheer up the disappointment tbh,but anyways rent free and all that 🫡 https://t.co/ULRZ4WITOq
— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) July 3, 2024
Paine, the first Australian captain to retain the Ashes in England (in 2019) since Steve Waugh in 2001, commented on the episode on SEN Tassie Breakfast: “I think it was taken slightly out of context because he was talking in a changing room and it was a bigger speech, so I will say that.
“However, it’s just this continued belief that they’re completely changing the game and they’re doing this amazing stuff and everyone’s going to remember it … they’re not.
“You’re coming dead last in the World Test Championship. You’re not going to be a team that everyone remembers watching and you’re not doing anything outrageously good that we haven’t seen before.
“You’re an average cricket team. You are, at the moment, a below-average cricket team and I think they need to get their head around that a little bit.”
He also pointed out that Stokes' message was phrased as a reply to the Australia team, rather than to Fox Cricket.
“You’re talking to a TV production. I found it quite strange that he went back at them because it would be like me going back at Sky Sports. It’s just strange. They’re living in a bit of a weird, strange world over there at the moment. Anyway, each to their own as they say.”
Follow Wisden for all T20 World Cup updates, including live scores, match stats, quizzes and more. Stay up to date with the latest cricket news, player updates, team standings, match highlights, video analysis and live match odds.
