After two years of Stokes’s captaincy, the mantra has changed from ‘be where your feet are’ and not look too far ahead, to ‘planning for tomorrow is as important as winning today’, with the Ashes on the far horizon.
“I’ve been captain for two years now,” said Stokes at Lord’s, a day out from the first Test of the summer. “And two years is a long time for something to be fine for. But I also want to push this team as far as they can go.
“You look at where we’ve got to go in 18 months to Australia. We want to win that urn back. I’ll be nearly four years as captain when we go out there. I want to be able to go out there knowing we’ve done everything possible right over this 18-month period to go there with a strong enough squad to not just compete with Australia but to beat them.
“It’s probably the first time you’ve heard me speak like that about something so far away, but again it goes back to progression as a side. I want this team to progress over the next 18 months, so I’m focusing on that, because I want us to go out to Australia and win the Ashes back.”
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
ARTETA GETS NEW DEAL WITH GUNNERS
MANAGER COMMITS FUTURE TO CLUB UNTIL 2027
Opportunity knocks for Spurs amid rivals' crisis
Injury-hit Gunners facing a tough test as Postecoglou aims to reverse recent trend
Pressure is on misfiring Muniz and Antonio to spark campaigns into life
WHEN Andreas Pereira and Willian presented Rodrigo Muniz with the Premier League player of the month award for March, the striker’s tears of joy spoke of his own surprise at how drastically his fortunes had changed.
Madueke's England challenge boosts the Blues
CHELSEA’S Cobham training ground may be the most densely-populated patch of land across the entire home counties, but head down there this week and it ought not to take much to pick out Noni Madueke.
John Lewis cuts first-half losses after turnaround
THE boss of John Lewis today said he was confident of “positive” Christmas trading and “significantly higher profits” for the year as Britain’s leading partnership recovers from the worst crisis in its history.
Fever-Tree falls foul of the bad weather
FEVER-TREE seemed to be running out of fizz today as poor weather and a “subdued” consumer backdrop hit sales.
Why won't anybody take my novel of unrelenting male misery? I blame men
WHY don’t men read? Oh, I know dear male Standard readers do, those urbane, literary, poised and secretly perverted doyens of good taste. But those other men, they are not reading fiction.
The NHS needs more than long-term reform
THE NHS has become such a bleak topic of discussion in recent years that it is almost impossible to imagine it being fixed. Lord Darzi’s report paints a picture of an organisation grappling with several crises: in primary care, hospitals and the treatment of longterm illness. Its findings make for grim reading.
Ultrasound gives sickle cell teen new freedom
A TEENAGER with sickle cell disease has had her life transformed thanks to a pioneering ultrasound procedure performed by London doctors.
'Now let's get justice for the subpostmasters'
Mr Bates star Toby Jones makes a plea as he collects his gong at I'V awards
