The former England opening batsman David Gower reckons the reason why Ben Stokes has taken a liking to the leadership role in England’s test match set up is because he plays cricket with a “bulletproof” approach.
David Gower, who was one of the most elegant and watchable batsmen England ever produced in test cricket, was probably referring to the tough mentality of Ben Stokes with that bullet proof term. According to Gower, Stokes is a very different kind of character as opposed to the previous England test captain Joe Root.
After initial encouraging signs, England couldn’t live up to the expectations at all in test match cricket under Joe Root and a bunch of series losses all around the world eventually led to the resignation of the Yorkshire right hander.
England Cricket Board (ECB) put a new management team in place after Root stepped down and the head coach Chris Silverwood was sacked.
However, ECB’s choice of the new head coach surprised many as they decided to appoint the former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum to pair up with Ben Stokes, with McCullum having no prior experience of coaching a red ball team anywhere in the world.
McCullum’s man management skills earned him the England head coach job: David Gower
Talking about McCullum’s appointment, while being in an exclusive interview with Times of India, David Gower said that there were a lot of talks about McCullum’s qualification and experience as a red ball head coach when he was given the job, but now everyone can clearly realize why he was given the job.
Gower reckons the man management skills of McCullum and his ability to influence people with his ideas trumped everything else and it was one of the primary reasons why ECB hired him. With Ben Stokes being a similar kind of character and the duo injecting a positive attitude in the England set up, the results are now starting to appear for everyone to see.
