- 7 months ago
06/07/2025
Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK.
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SportsTranscript
00:00Oh yeah, let me clean it.
00:01Did you know this one?
00:02Yeah, it's good.
00:03Come on.
00:30Okay, camera's all good at the back, yeah?
00:31All good.
00:32Got England captain Ben Stokes, who are going to start with Rory.
00:35Go ahead, please.
00:36Ben, you've gone pretty deep into Day 5 again, but it's quite a big margin of defeat.
00:42What do you put that down to this week?
00:46I think two moments in the game, having them 200 for five and then not quite being able
00:53to blast them open.
00:56We know that we can.
00:58Yeah, so they ended up getting a big first innings total, obviously, after us having
01:03a good start, having them five down for not too many on the board and then obviously being
01:0780 for five in reply to Indy's first innings.
01:11It's always going to be tough to get back into a position where you can look to push on
01:16and being on the winning side at the end of the game.
01:21In terms of the toss, I know you don't have a crystal ball.
01:23If you'd have known exactly, which you can never know, if you'd have known how the pitch
01:28was going to play out, do you feel like you probably gave them the best of the conditions?
01:33I think if we were able to burst them open when we did have them five down earlier on day
01:40one, then the game potentially probably would have played out a little bit different.
01:45But yeah, as the game got deeper and deeper into it, it was pretty obvious that it was
01:51sort of not playing the way that we thought it was going to.
01:55And if anything, the longer the game played out, the more it was suiting that Indian team
01:59over our team.
02:01But yeah, as you say, no one's got a crystal ball.
02:03No one's really going to know what a wicket's going to do.
02:07But yeah, look, having them 205, we were happy there.
02:09Even five down at the end of day one.
02:11But we just weren't able to bust them open.
02:14And yeah, we had a chance to potentially bowl them out for under 350 on that wicket,
02:18which would have been a good effort.
02:19And you don't have a great deal of turnaround time now, but you have to think of some plans
02:24to unsettle.
02:25Shudman Gilley's spent a hell of a lot of time giving you footage to look at.
02:29Yeah, he's had some two games, hasn't he?
02:32Yeah, look, again, it's one of those things where early on we've got plans on attacking
02:38the stumps and trying to bring in the LBW.
02:43And then a couple of times early on where he's just managed to get a little inside nick
02:46on those.
02:47And those are the kind of things that happens when players inform.
02:50But yeah, look, he's, again, he played amazingly well at Headingley first innings.
02:55But these two innings he played here were, especially in that first innings,
02:59and, you know, you've got to give your opposition and credit when it's due.
03:03And yeah, for him to bang out as many runs as he has done in this game has been,
03:07you know, pretty special for him.
03:10Go Will and then Matt, please.
03:13Ben, can I just do a quick sort of health check on your fast bowlers?
03:16Are they all kind of in a race to be fit for Lords after such a heavy workload?
03:22Yeah, absolutely good as gold.
03:25I think the efforts that, you know, we sort of all put in as a bowling unit there,
03:30especially the big quicks was, yeah, you know, you throw the ball in any situation
03:33and they keep charging and running in.
03:35But it's no secret that, you know, we have spent some time in the field
03:40and bowled some overs in the first two games and we'll have to see how everyone pulls up
03:43over the next two days.
03:45But obviously with it being a quick turnaround, then, you know,
03:48there probably will be a decision we have to make considering how,
03:51well, sorry, given how everyone does pull up after this game.
03:54Are Brydon's toes looking a bit problematic again?
03:58Oh, what, sorry?
03:58Are Brydon's toes looking a bit problematic again?
04:01Just to be clear, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Brydon's toes.
04:04It's his boots.
04:05He keeps blowing through his boots.
04:08Yeah, that's why he keeps nipping off and having to get new pairs on.
04:11So there's nothing wrong with Brydon's toes.
04:13And can we expect to see Joffre at Lourdes?
04:16Again, it'll be a decision that we have to make seeing how everyone pulls up.
04:22You know, we've had them here this week to get around the group
04:24and build them up with his, you know, workloads and everything like that.
04:28So, you know, everyone's in consideration for the game at Lourdes.
04:32Matt, go ahead and we'll take two at the front here.
04:34Go ahead, Matt.
04:35Ben, you've had like some brilliant wins, including last week at Leeds,
04:38but quite a lot of these quite like big defeats.
04:41Do you think there's a reason why you struggle to be consistent?
04:46Oh, look, 300 and something's obviously a big margin.
04:50Yeah, we knew what task we had of us, you know, going into, you know,
04:55when we first went out to bat in the fourth innings.
04:57And, you know, obviously that changed when we lose three wickets like we did last night.
05:03It then rains for an hour and a half and then we lose two early wickets.
05:06So, you know, the task of today when we got to that point was, you know, batting out the 80 overs.
05:11You know, the result that we always try and push towards and look for, obviously, you know, it was beyond.
05:20But, yeah, there's a way in which you address that.
05:23And obviously going into our shells, going into our bunkers and looking to play in a certain way is one way you could look at it.
05:28But for us to, as a batting group and a unit, to go out there and bat those 80 overs,
05:32it was to go out there and play the way that we play and focus on the fact that we knew we had to bat 80 overs.
05:39But, yeah, like 300 and something's obviously a big deficit.
05:44But, yeah, India pushed to get 600 for some obvious reasons, I think.
05:50Is that because you've been so successful chasing, do you think?
05:56I don't think it might have to do something like that.
06:00But, yeah, look, 600 is always just a mammoth total to try and chase down.
06:06And, you know, psychologically, whether that decision was decided at 350, 400,
06:15they need to keep getting more and more and more, I don't know.
06:16But, yeah, look, we weren't able to deliver our skills than we needed to in that fourth innings with the bat
06:23when we were under pressure and that can happen.
06:26We're obviously disappointed, but, you know, we've got three days to turn around,
06:29so we need to get over this one, just like we got over the enjoyment and the excitement of winning that first game.
06:35So we need to flip our heads around and get our heads on loads.
06:38Did it hurt you inside at all, having to accept that you couldn't go for the chase
06:43because you've made it clear you don't like draws to have to actually go for one one time?
06:48Did that hurt you in any way?
06:49I wouldn't say it hurts.
06:51It's just another thing that we, you know, you get faced with as, you know, international players.
06:57You get faced with different situations all the time.
07:00And we knew the situation we were faced with in particular this morning when we lost those two wickets.
07:04And, yeah, the way that everyone just still went about their business
07:07and knew that the task at hand was batting out of the 80 overs.
07:09Even the way Jamie went out and continued the way that he played from his first innings heroics.
07:15That's how he felt he was going to be able to spend the most time out there
07:18and be someone at the end there, hopefully at the end of the day.
07:21But, yeah, just wasn't meant to be.
07:23We'll go Mel on this side and then we'll take two in front.
07:25Go ahead, Mel.
07:27Ben, the other side of the equation in why you've won so many games has been taking 20 wickets.
07:33So is that a little bit frustrating or concerning that you weren't actually able to take 20 wickets in this?
07:40And how much do you think about that when you look ahead at the next game?
07:44Yeah, you can't win a game if you don't take 20 wickets.
07:49But I don't read into it too much, you know.
07:53You do also have to appreciate how well India played with the bat.
07:57Obviously, you know, pretty favorable conditions, especially if someone got in.
08:01You know, two of our lads showed that this week, that if you get in, you know, it's very hard to get someone out.
08:07So, yeah, like India's full of world-class players.
08:14Shubman's had another unbelievable week with the bat, but he was very well supported throughout.
08:18In particular, sort of at the back end of the tail, Jadeja again, coming in and getting some valuable runs.
08:22So, yeah, you know, skill against skill, it's always tough to sort of go, oh, how did we not take 20 wickets?
08:33But you are allowed to let your opposition play well, and, you know, they definitely did that in that first innings.
08:39Ben, I just want to ask, can you talk about what difficulties as a batting group you were facing when you were facing, you know, Akash Deep?
08:52What specifically, you know, he was doing there?
08:55And the second part is, are you worried about your own batting form?
08:58I thought Akash Deep exposed that crack, especially, yeah, last night and this morning.
09:09His ability to be able to use and change his angles consistently, but still be so accurate with that.
09:14And obviously he was zoning in on that crack, like, yeah, that one that Harry Brook got this morning, can't do anything about that.
09:23And, yeah, standing at the other end when Jamie Smith got a couple of those earlier on, it was like they were like seaming a foot off it.
09:28So, yeah, incredibly skillful to be able to hone in on that zone, but while still changing his angles on the crease, I thought it was good.
09:37And question about me, no.
09:40Yes, sir, go ahead in this corner, Ben.
09:43Hi, Evan, good to see you.
09:44I need to ask you about just a bit Brummer as well, because you've been seeing him in different formats in test cricket, ODI and in T20 as well.
09:53How do you look to prepare against different players over time?
09:57Because you've played against him for so many years and Joe Root's played against him for so many years.
10:00And again, you're going to be playing against someone like Richard Pan for so many years as well.
10:03How do you tend to learn about different players as they grow and evolve, just like you would as well?
10:10So you're asking me about just a bit of Brummer or?
10:12Just about just a bit of Brummer, yeah.
10:15So I'll get through a press conference.
10:16We play against each other so often.
10:22We play so you know what you're going to be faced with.
10:30And, yeah, you put that into practice in your training.
10:33You can try and do as much as you can with, you know, the coaches that we have with the sidearms, you know, coming wide at the crease or trying to, you know, almost give you practice.
10:46Just like their bowling line-up, if that makes sense.
10:49It's very tough to replicate, but you're always trying your hardest to replicate something that's going to be coming down to you in the middle of a game.
10:58Chris, one question and we'll finish off here at the front.
11:00Go ahead, Chris.
11:01Hi, Ben.
11:03You've had plenty more good times than bad as captain.
11:06How confident are you in the group that you can come back strongly at Lourdes and get back on the front foot in the series?
11:14Yeah, I said this a few times where we've obviously had some unbelievable wins.
11:21We've had some, you know, pretty bad defeats.
11:25But I feel what I'm quite good at and what the team is very good at is being able to stay level throughout those, you know, ups and downs.
11:33I think that's so important, in particular in a series where we knew coming into the series it was never going to be easy.
11:39There was always going to be ebbs and flows in a game, in particular in the series, because we're both two very good teams.
11:44And, yeah, I thought, obviously, after the Headingley game, the way which we, you know, just sort of, we celebrated, but it was like we know what the job, we've still got four more games to go.
11:59Yes, we're disappointed with the loss here.
12:02It would have been great to have carried that momentum over from the first game, but we don't find ourselves sitting here like that.
12:07So, yeah, we've got to wipe this one under the carpet as quickly as we can because, yeah, it's going to be, Lord's Day 1 is going to come around pretty quickly.
12:17You know, we'll have one day or two to get the bodies right and recover, and then all of a sudden we'll be out there flicking the coin and walking out the field and playing again.
12:28So, yeah, just being able to stay as level-headed as you possibly can, not getting too up, not getting too low.
12:33And, yeah, staying true to the fundamentals of what's got this team to where we have them.
12:40And the last one here, please.
12:42Ben, Mohamed Siraj got six wickets in the first innings, and Akash, they've got six wickets.
12:47What did Indian bowlers do special that English bowlers could not from a seemingly flat pitch?
12:55We nicked a few more than what India did.
12:57Honestly, it's one of those where it sounded like we went past the bat a few times.
13:08We had a few nicks go in the gaps.
13:12We nicked them and we, yeah, and India caught them.
13:17It's, yeah, you sit there, it's such a frustrating game to watch sometimes and be out there and watch the stuff unfold in front of you.
13:23But at the same time, that's why you absolutely love it.
13:26That's why you love being a part of the emotions of this game.
13:30I think that's probably part and parcel to do with why Test cricket is such a game that people love watching because of how it can unfold.
13:38You know, a little bit of luck here and there.
13:40And, yeah, you're the team on top.
13:42But, yeah, look, they just played better as an all-round unit, as a batting unit, as a bowling unit than us this week.
13:48And that was, we were in that situation last week where we ended up on top, but Indy have came out on top here.
13:57Thanks, guys.
13:58Thank you, President.
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