‘Worst in the series’: Stokes’ most important Ashes role is making him, and England, worse

With England’s ambitions of reclaiming the urn in tatters, attention has turned to whether the key pillars of a failed Ashes campaign in Australia will hold their positions at the completion of the series.

Former Australian spinner Kerry O’Keeffe believes England captain Ben Stokes might be best served in stepping down from the position in order to enable him to produce his best form with the ball and bat in the latter stages of his career.

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While Stokes has enjoyed moments of individual brilliance during this Ashes, beginning with a five wicket haul in Perth and then consecutive half-centuries at the Gabba and Adelaide Oval, the burden of the role has been apparent.

After breaking from the Bazball message when declaring there was no room for weak men in the England team after the Brisbane belting, he expressed his frustrations with Jofra Archer in public at Adelaide Oval.

With England’s hopes of staying in the Ashes on death’s door in the third Test, he was unable to bowl in sweltering heat after exhausting himself with an exacting innings when batting in a bid to lead his side back into the match.

O’Keeffe, who joined Fox Cricket’s podcast The Follow On on Monday, pondered whether the 34-year-old was reducing his effectiveness by trying to do too much for his side.

“Ben Stokes has been so admirable, but I don’t know whether he’s a captain tactically,” he told The Follow On.

“I think he’ll have a look at his own game at the end of this series and he may play better if he’s free of mind, because when you look at his numbers in Australia, he doesn’t average over 28 in any form.

“I mean, this is a guy who’s won Test matches off his own back. Yet in Australian conditions, his average is so poor. Maybe the captaincy … clouds his thinking. He wants to be clear of mine and I’m very interested in what happens with Ben Stokes.”

Some spectacular fails at the crease and wayward bowling aside, a constant lament for England during the first three Tests was its failure to restrict Australia when they were at the crease, with former pundits puzzled by some of the field placements.

This, O’Keeffe said, was a demonstration of muddled thinking and just one of the areas where England could improve.

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“Tactically, the best fields set in the series were by Steve Smith when he captained and the worst fields have been set by Ben Stokes, because he over attacks,” O’Keeffe said.

“I mean, some of the English were bowling absolute filth, but he gave them attacking fields, and that’s why boundaries (flowed). Australia scored at a faster run rate than the Bazballers. And part of that is to do with Ben Stokes setting fields for good bowling and England bowling badly.

“Ben Stokes will say it’s not my fault, you know, I don’t set fields for bad bowling. But I think he had to consider on a few occasions that things weren’t going well, and he refused to set out fielders when runs were being leaked all over the place.

“I think the best cricket Ben Stokes can play, even though he is a warrior, is when he’s just allowed to play as a contributor. He might say I love being captain, but I’d love to see him play it as a member of the 11, and he can lead by example without the C against his name.”

Stokes was asked in Adelaide whether he had given any thought to his tenure as captain and responded with a “nope”. But he did concede after the Perth loss that he had lacked his usual clarity when trying to command his side.

“I could have been a lot better as captain,” he said.

“I am the person who makes decisions about how we go out there and operate and I am the one who gives the plans to the bowlers. I wasn’t as clear as I normally am. The key thing for me is to be completely crystal clear with my bowlers.”