Ben Stokes says he apologised to his England team-mates after his frustrations were evident during the second-Test defeat by Pakistan. (More Cricket News)
Ben Stokes says 🏅he apologised to his England team-mates after his frustrations were evident during the second-Test defeat by Pakistan
Ben Stokes says he apologised to his England team-mates after his frustrations were evident during the second-Test defeat by Pakistan. (More Cricket News)
The hosts levelled the three-Test series on Thursday after wrapping u💃p a 152-run win in Multan.
However, it could have been a different story but for fielding errors at crucial stages for the visitors, Jamie Smith and Joe Root notably dropping catches to dismiss Salman Agha, whose subsequent knock of 63 helped Pak🐠istan seal victory with a day to spare.
Stokes, who returned to action following a hamstr🐻ing injury, could not hide his frustration during a difficult day for England, but insisted he would not let his emotions get the better of him again.
"No one means to drop catches, but it just proves h♏ow impo🌠rtant catches are in these subcontinent conditions, they don't come along that often," he told Sky Sports.
"I actually apologised to the group last night. It's the first time in my captaincy that I've let my emotions and how I was෴ feeling with the way the game was unfolding ꧃show in my body language.
"I owned 🌳up to that and was very annoyed at myself for letti🍷ng that out. It's something that I don't want to do or be seen to be doing, so I apologised to the group about that.
"Poor old me, I was a tired, grumpy old ꧒man last night! You won't see that happen 𓄧again."
However, England c🐼oach Br𒐪endon McCullum defended the actions of his skipper.
"We all know how🧸 passionate Ben is, how much it means for𓂃 him to play for England," he said.
"We've seen that through his bloody-mindedness to ge😼t back from injury, which was significant, and to do so in a nine-week timeframe and to have his first TM [Test match] in extreme conditions, 40 degrees, and be able to give what he gave to the side.
"I think, maybe, that's where some of that frustration led to - certainly, i🐼t wasn't directed at any of the players. It was more about trying to assess the rhythm of the game, and to impa༒ct on it."