Flaw Show

Dropped catches so costly as Ben’s reign ends in defeat

- Dean Wilson

Ben Stokes blamed his team’s lack of ruthlessness for a bruising four-wicket defeat by the West Indies.

Stokes will hand the reins back to Joe Root in Manchester this week with the team 1-0 down with two matches to play.

But whether it was the decision to bat first at the toss under heavy skies in Southampton, or leaving out Stuart Broad, Stokes was not backing down.

He said: “I don’t have any regrets. I stand by our decision to bat first but we weren’t ruthless enough to make our batting innings count.

“We’ve got to be good enough to bat first and put the runs on the board. We got into positions to kick on in the first innings but we didn’t manage to grasp the game like we wanted to.

“We base our Test cricket on big first-innings runs and we didn’t make the most of our chances in either the first or second innings with the bat.