Ben Stokes will lead England in New Zealand

Test captain Ben Stokes has claimed that the England team doesn't specifically think about the World Test Championship while playing Tests, calling the concept "utterly confusing".

Stokes' comments come ahead of their opening Test of the Thorpe-Crowe Trophy, part of the World Test Championship in which England are currently placed sixth and New Zealand are fourth. England, who finished fourth in the previous WTC cycle, are already out of the WTC final race.

Stokes feels that his team's philosophy is to take things "game by game, series by series", which doesn't necessarily align with the long-drawn nature of the World Test Championship, usually spread across three years.

"In all honesty, the World Test Championship, it is a bit confusing, it’s one of those where, you know we don’t really look at it, I don’t look at it," Stokes said. "It’s one of those where over a long period of time if you’re playing really good cricket, you’re getting results that you want, you’ll end up finding yourself there in the final and in the mix.”

“For me and this team it’s about taking it game by game, series by series and if you end up finding yourself in the position where you happen to be in that world test championship final, then it’s great but it’s a real weird one knowing that you’re playing for something over a long period of time.”

“I can’t remember if I’ve ever even given any real time to be specifically thinking about the World Test Championship to be honest because it’s utterly confusing, we play a lot more cricket than anyone else does, that’s just what we try and focus on, you know, if we play well, we’ll be there or thereabouts but if we don’t, then we won’t be.”

Under Stokes, England have played 29 Tests since 2020, winning 17 of those, losing 11 and drawing just one. The result-oriented nature of Bazball has divided opinion, but Stokes has the second-highest win percentage among all post-war England Test captains who have led in at least five Tests.

The overall figures have been diluted by this year's hot-and-cold performances: they won the first Test on their tour to India before losing four on the trot. They won three Tests at home against the West Indies, but suffered a 0-2 defeat on their Pakistan trip. On their last tour to New Zealand in early 2023, England won the first Test by 267 runs, but lost the second by one run.

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