(Reuters) – England captain Ben Stokes concedes that he has probably spoken too much about next year’s Ashes and is keen that the tourists stay in the “here and now” as they look to sweep their test series against New Zealand in Hamilton this week.
Charged with confidence after taking an unassailable 2-0 lead in the series with convincing wins in Christchurch and Wellington, England begin their 17th and final test of the year at Seddon Oval on Saturday.
England blew a similar chance for a clean sweep against Sri Lanka at home in September and Stokes is clearly all too aware of the dangers of thinking too far ahead.
“I maybe spoke a little too much about the Ashes and put too much onus on that series considering how much cricket we have to play,” he told reporters at the team hotel in Hamilton.
“But as you know, it’s a big series for every Englishman and Australian. I think toning down expectations around that series is something I will definitely be better at.
“I quite like staying in the present and in the moment but it is quite tough when you’ve got an Ashes round the corner. I think it’s about making sure I keep my focus on being in the here and now. And then, when the Ashes is our next series, we will focus on it then.”
Stokes said he was happy with England’s form over a year, winning nine of their 16 tests and three of five series.
“We’ve played some good cricket and found some extraordinarily talented players who’ve shown they’re capable of delivering big performances on the biggest stage, which is playing for your country,” he added.
Chief among the young talents who have made their mark this year is Harry Brook, who has dominated the series against New Zealand with two big centuries and a total of 649 runs at an average of 116.
“There will always be ebbs and flows, but there’s no doubt Harry Brook will be an even bigger superstar than he is right now,” said Stokes.
“He’s just a phenomenal player. You look at his consistency over the last five to six months. He came in with a lot of talent, but now two hundreds in two games, the range of his ability, pure batsmanship across all three formats, he’s pretty hard to match at the moment.”
(This story has been corrected to fix the start of the test match to Saturday, from Friday, in paragraph 2)
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney, editing by Michael Perry)
