Bad Boy Image Prerequisite For Success?

Ben Stokes was not satisfied being the toast of all England as he led the team into the depth of the tricky final hours of the ICC Cricket World Cup final 2019 in mid-July...

- Sreelata S. Yellamrazu

The nightmare has given way to clear blue skies. That could be said of David Warner. The same could be said of Ben Stokes. Steven Smith even finds himself inadvertently in this category. So, is having a bad boy image prerequisite to enjoying success as the trio savors an unprecedented English summer?

Ben Stokes was not satisfied being the toast of all England as he led the team into the depth of the tricky final hours of the ICC Cricket World Cup final 2019 in mid-July. Leading defiantly and dogged, Stokes defied his chequered past eighteen months before where he was dealing with off-field legal wrangles that turned his image into something of a spoilt brat-impetuous-overrated-England-cricketer. Irrespective of that assessment is fair or not, Stokes was not a sure card when England named their World Cup squad.