Test Match Special - TMS does the IPL: Ben Stokes Special

Episode Date: October 26, 2020

England all-rounder Ben Stokes scored a brilliant unbeaten 100 to keep the qualification hopes of Rajasthan Royals alive. In an exclusive interview Stokes speaks to Isa Guha about opening the batting, his rollercoaster three years and why he wouldn’t wish quarantine on his greatest enemy!

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Welcome along to a very special episode of TMS does the IPL. We persuaded one of the biggest names in cricket to drop by for a chat today. After taking a break from the game to spend time with his family in New Zealand, England's World Cup winning and Ash's batting hero is back with the Rajasthan Royals for his third season. Already one of England's greatest all-rounders of all time. He holds numerous records, including England's fastest ever test double century. He's also the reigning sports personality of the year. You guessed it, it's Ben Soakes.

Ben, thanks so much for giving up your time. Just great to see you and great to see you playing in the IPL with the blessings of your family, of course. Do you feel like you've managed to settle in okay? Yeah, I mean, obviously, the quarantine was actually pretty easy, to be honest. You know, having to spend six days in your room doesn't sound like the most appealing thing. but the hotel facilities that we got, you know, given to us was actually,

actually made the quarantine a lot easy. You know, we had sort of like a balcony and we had like a garden area and stuff like that. So the first six days were actually made pretty easy. And then obviously, once you've done that, you're back into the training and you're around the group. So, yeah, once I've done that, settled in pretty quickly. Obviously, I've gotten to know most of the team, so I didn't have to worry about sort of meeting new people or anything like that. So, yeah, it's gone pretty well.

How much has the Rajasaril's family rallied around, especially during what is, I guess, quite a difficult time for yourself. Yeah, very supportive with everything. You know, our owner Manage was very keen just to sort of let me make my own decisions around everything like that, as well as Ranjit was as well. You know, they've been in contact with me and my family, mum and dad back home. So, you know, they've been absolutely brilliant with all that kind of stuff. And I put no pressure on me whatsoever to, you know,

well, didn't put any pressure on me to come out. They sort of just left that to me to make my own decision, which, you know, obviously goes a long way. And I suppose it's quite nice to be there with the likes of Joss Butler, who I know you're very close to anyway, and Jopra as well, who you spend a lot of time with. Yeah, you know, obviously being in the IPL with, you know, guys that you play a lot of cricket with anyway is obviously makes the a little bit more comfortable, I guess. And, you know, having people like that around you, you sort of, you know, you end up spending a lot of time with them anyway because you feel comfortable around them. But the group that we've got here at Rajasthan, you know, we've been together now for three years since Rajasthan were. back into the IPL.

So everybody knows everybody. Obviously, we've had a few new recruits this year. But I guess it's the same in sort of County Cricket. Everybody knows everybody. And same in India. Everybody knows everybody. So even when you get a new player coming to the franchise, they seem to know most of the team anyway.

And you end up just getting to know everybody pretty quickly. And especially being in the bubble, you know, that's all you do. You just spend time with each other. So it's been really easy to get to know all the new people we've got on the team. And what about in terms of dusting off any calls? Robwebs with the bat with the ball. I mean, you hit quite a couple of nice cover drives. Yeah, I mean, you know, obviously having a few months out of the game,

it does take a while to sort of get back into the swing of things. But I guess, you know, it's sort of like riding a bike. You know, once you do it once and learn how to do it, you never forget. But, you know, it's just sort of getting back into the match intensity, I guess, is the biggest thing to get used to again. But yeah, I mean, look, we've, you know, we're in a situation at the moment as a team where we know we need to win every game. we started that little bit of this season off well by beating Chennai and we need to keep

continuing that runner form and it's all about peaking at the right time in these type of tournament so hopefully our peak is coming now and you're opening the batting as well i can imagine that's quite a fun place to be because you've only got the two outside the inner circle and you can kind of let loose i mean how did that conversation come about obviously the the iPL's not normally at this time in the calendar but you know this was the conversation that that me and when Andrew McDonnell was appointed coach, the role that he wanted me to do if we were to be playing at the normal time. So it wasn't sort of like a, you know, a spur of the moment decision.

It was a decision that sort of spoke about for a while. And then once I got out here, you know, Maca was still pretty keen for me to fulfill that role. So obviously it's a different role that I'm used to playing in T20 cricket. You know, I spent most of my time in the middle order. But I've always sort of wanted to try and get myself up the order, which is very tough to do in the England team anyway. because of the plays we've got here, you know, you've got Burstow, Roy and Banton now as well.

So it's a very, very tough place to try and get into. But, yeah, I've really enjoyed it. The sort of freedom that you have at the top of the order, obviously only having the two fielders out and you get a bit more time to build an innings, but also you've still got to try and capitalise on the power play. Especially at this time, the tournament now, I feel, is if the power play is a really big and crucial part of winning a game

because, you know, the wickets are getting slower. The spinners are coming more into the game, and it seems to be coming a little bit more tough to get the scoreboard ticking against the spin bowlers. So being at the top and trying to force the game in the first six overs, I've really enjoyed going out there with that intent. Been a little bit frustrated. I've got a few starts, not being able to carry on and make on the big score that I want to.

But, you know, the intent that I want to be showing is there. Just haven't been quite managed to go on and make a big score like I want to. Having had a couple of goes at it now, which do you prefer? No, opening. It's easy. There's only two people. of course but it does mean that joss butler has now slipped back down the order to good effect I mean he's so successful he got 70 or 40 on deliveries against chenai which was outstanding once again in your opinion where do you prefer him batting in the middle order or up top

it's a massive compliment to a player where you can just say right we're going to drop you into the middle order because we need your experience and we need your ability in the middle because there's not many players who can do what Joss Butler can do at the back end of the T20 innings. You know, you see how he goes about his one-day cricket. You know, he builds in innings, but he still manages to strike the ball over a runner ball. You know, a strike rate, I think, is 120 in one-day cricket without even trying. You know, he's obviously a fantastic opener and people hate bowling at him, especially in the power play. But if I was a captain or if I was a coach, having to plan against bowling at someone like Joss Butler in the middle overs would just be an absolute nightmare.

because not many people can do what he can do. He hits the ball everywhere. He can hit you over your head for six. The next ball, he can hit you over the keeper for six. So having somebody with his skill level, temperament and experience in the middle order is a massive bonus for this side. But yeah, I mean, if you stick him at the top, if you stick him in the middle, he's going to do well because he's that good of a player.

You have the pleasure, of course, of playing with the likes of Joss and Jopra for England and for Rajasthan, but also someone who's been a bit of a nemesis for England in the past, Steve Smith. We actually spoke to him the other week and he said that there's no headlines here between him and Joffra Archer. They get on really well. What is it like for yourself and Steve? People probably would, I don't know, they'll probably have an opinion about having an Australian and an English guy, English guys in the same team. They'd probably wonder what the relationship is like, but it's fine. You know, at the end of the day, when you're playing on the same team together, you've all got the same goal, which is to go out and win. But then on the other hand,

when it's England v. Australia, it's completely different. You know, you're there to beat Australia and then the relationship just constantly changes. But when you're in the same team together, when you all have that goal to win, that rivalry from international cricket just goes out the window for the six to seven or eight weeks how I belong this tournament is. But I'd rather have Steve Smith on my team

than against me because, you know, obviously he's one of the world's best and probably will go down as one of the best ever batsmen to play the game. What about on the field with him as captain? Of course, you've been able to play under Owen Morgan. and Joe Root to what are the

differences that you can see between his captain C style all similarities no I think

they're definitely got their differences but you know it's not saying one's right and one's wrong

obviously everybody knows how calm Owen is under any type of situation you know you don't get

a tell from him if we're playing poorly or we're playing great you know he's always the same he's always got the same

level head and I would say Steve's just a little bit more animated but you know that's you know

their character you know Steve's obviously, he can tell, by the way, that he bats that he's a very animated person. And fidgety. Yeah. But yeah, you know, they've both got great cricket brains. They understand the game a lot. And, you know, T20 cricket's all about thinking on the spot because it's such a quick game.

You know, you don't have long to think about what to do. And I think he does that really well. Being a captain in a T20 game, I think, is all about making a decision quickly and under pressure, but not letting that pressure get to you, if you know what I mean. Being able to sort of part that to one side and still be clear and, the decision in the process that you decided to go with. Having tasted it at test level, is it something you'd like to do in this format? Being captain of a team is nothing that I've ever aspired to be or sort of set any goals on.

If you get called upon to do it, obviously you're going to take on that responsibility. But for me personally, being captain has never been something I've ever had my eye on or never aspired to be. But, you know, if I am, you know, like that test match that a captain, you know, I was captain, but I was still going out there trying to do what, you know, I always try and do, just have the handband on. Probably a bit more tired at the end of it as well. Yeah, too many meetings for my life. Too many meetings, too many interviews from us a lot.

How would you describe your captaincy style? Because I knew it was a one-off game, I consciously didn't want to go away from what Rootie had built and the way that he wanted the team to operate. I mean, obviously being his vice captain, I obviously knew the route that he wants this team to go towards. So I still made sure that throughout that five days, I was continuing that.

But obviously, you know, I still had to make decisions in the heat of the moment in, you know, different situations. You know, I remember bowling. Obviously, we were bowling in that test match to win the game and, you know, having to think about who I bowl at certain situations. And, you know, I remember when we needed to, like, win the game. And then all of a sudden the balls started reverse swinging. And I had Joffron.

I had Woody, you know, bowled 90 mile an hour. But then I was like, but Jimmy's our best reverse swing bowler. Like, I've got to get him on. And then after the game, when I was walking off and we lost, I was like, oh, sure. but I've kept Joffa on, you know, like he's, he's 90-mile-hour bowler. He's the guy who's going to take the wickets, but it's like, well, no, Jimmy Anderson is, you know, the best reverse swinging baller we've got on the team,

and we need to win. So that's what you do. You know, hindsight's an amazing thing when you can look back on and say, I wish I did this different, I wish you did that different, but that all goes through your head after things have happened. But, yeah, I didn't change too much about what Rootie does. So I enjoyed it, but, as I said, it's nothing that I've ever aspired to be. But what about yourself as a bowler as well?

I remember at the end of that game and we were all talking and saying, well, actually, it would have been great to have seen you bowl a bit sooner, but you sort of held yourself back. Yeah, I remember Joss. I was saying, because Joss was my vice captain that game, and he said to me a few times,

he was like, remember to bowl yourself here as well, which I didn't forget, but it was sort of like, you know, when the decisions in your hands, it's sort of harder to do that, as hard as they go, right, I'm going to come on here and be that. You know, obviously,

when Rudy's captain and he just goes, right, come and bowl for me. I'm like, yeah, right, cool, I'll do that. But when the decision, and your hands to make it's that was probably the biggest difference to me throughout that test match was having to make the decision for when I come on to bowl but what I did use as helping me through that was the situation of the game in terms of if Joe was here captaining I would probably be bowling now so I use that as a little you know example of right this is my

time to come on and bowl yeah I can imagine that it's always difficult trying to manage that in your head I just want to go back to quarantine and you said that you know you were looked after pretty well in the UAE ahead of playing for the Rajasthan Wales. What about in New Zealand? Because you were cooped up in that hotel for 14 days. I'm just about to do it, to be honest. So I'm kind of keen to understand a bit more about your experience of that. Yeah, it was really weird.

I mean, I flew into Auckland and you get off the plane, you get your bags, and then you walk out and you just get told what hotel you go and stay at. So there's no choice in it. You either get, you know, it's pot luck if you get a good hotel or a bad hotel. is obviously the government have chosen certain hotels to be the quarantine hotels. So yeah, you get moved onto a bus with all the other people on the flight and then just drive to the hotel and check yourself in and you just hope to God it's a good hotel.

And I'm very obviously fortunate that when we tour, we get given really good hotels to stay at. But yeah, the one that I was cooped up in for 14 days wasn't the best. But what I do have to say about that is that the hotel staff and the Navy who were sort of overseeing the security side of it were very, very good. They made the 14 days a lot easier by how helpful they were and they made everything a lot easier, which could have, you know, 14 days to yourself in quarantine, you know, it was obviously

a tough thing to do and but when you've got people who are there to help you and make that easier for you, that did help. But the fact I had to hang up two of my hoodies on coat hangers to act as blinds because my room was having, especially when the sun started screaming in at 640 bike. Very make-do and practical for sure. Did it help, though, that it was you, Ben Stokes, and that everyone probably knew who you were? No, no.

To be honest, I didn't really go outside, to be honest. I went outside to do some, like, walking and some running and stuff like that in the exercise area. But other than that, I just sat in my room and played cold a jury. That's what everyone seems to do these days. Just how tough was it, though, because I guess you're so far away from Claire and the kids in the UK yet. So unbelievably close to your dad and the family in New Zealand. Yeah, you couldn't see them for that amount of time. I would say the first four days are the hardest because it's like,

because you're trying to work out a routine to make the day go buy faster. And the first four days seemed like 40 days. But then after the four day, I sort of had a routine on how to work the day out. What do that involve? Get order breakfast from Uber Eats, watch something on Netflix till like sort of late-ish afternoon because I worked out that about between 2 o'clock and 3 o'clock, the exercise area was actually quite empty so there wasn't that many people out there so then i'll go

out and do my exercise then i'll come back have you know just line the bed for an hour play some more x-box and then it was dinner time so just sort of literally just did that for like the last you know 10 days which made it go a lot quicker but the first four days i was just trying to work out a plan or a routine to get into to make the days go by quicker but it was tough but once i got out of it it was like for like a free man wow and did you give in touch with like many of the england guys Yeah, I mean, like, guys were like, because I posted a few on my Instagram stories and they were messaging going like, wow, what's that like? And I was like, yeah, it's not the most enjoyable thing that you'd ever have to do. I said, I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy.

So I actually said, and I text my brother actually, and obviously me and Marlon Samuels have got a bit of history. And he replied saying, well, you wouldn't even do that to Milon Samuels. And I went, no, it's not bad. Wish Malon Samuels had to do this. So that's how tough it was. and what about okay so for advice for people about to do it from someone who knows what would your top three things be to take into quarantine with you a Wi-Fi dongle definitely because I didn't have Wi-Fi for the first three days well I did have Wi-Fi but didn't work very well because

the hotel was full and everybody was on it so I would take your own personal Wi-Fi hotspot take a gaming console definitely and if you don't have Uber Eats or Deliveroo subscription get it because yeah the hotel food it was good but it was just the way that it got delivered you know like if you go to a um i don't know like a takeout and you get given your food and like those tinfoil sort of like like chinese takeaway you know you get your food in the tinfoil thing with the like little lid on that's how your food came every night and i was like yeah i don't want to eat out of this for 14 days straight so i my uber eats got an absolute hammering about 14 days noted um what about books like if you could recommend a book

I've not even read my own books, so. Good to know. So you can't even review your own book. Okay. That's interesting. Five star I've heard, though. I'm going to try and take a book with me, I think. I never get around reading any, but yeah, I'm going to try to.

Just on you as a person and how you cope with things, because it's been just such a roller coaster three years for yourself, going back to Bristol and everything that, Came with that, then building up to last year, playing for England, the World Cup final, being pivotal in England, lifting the trophy, headingly, which was just the most ridiculous knocks ever in the history of the game, to now what you're facing and with your father's illness. I mean, what are your coping strategies for all of that? I don't know, just take it as it comes and make sure that the people that you've got around

are the right people that you need. I know that I've got, you know, a very, very strong, you know, support of unit around me with anything that gets thrown at me, you know, in a negative way and they will always be there through those tough times. You know, that's where I feel you know and you understand the people that you need around you is who steps up when things aren't going too wealthier. They're the people that count and everything for me. They stay true to you, so just make sure you stay true to them. That's some really great advice. I mean, for most people, that is brilliant advice, but I guess the one big difference for yourself is that you have to deal with this all in in the public eye.

So everyone is sort of, I guess, they feel that they can access you in a way. Yeah, and I guess that, you know, that and understanding that, you know, when you're in, I don't know, professional sportsmen or whoever it is outside of, you know, being in the public eye, let's say, you know, you've got to come to terms of that people are going to have an opinion about you. People are going to write stuff about you, they're going to say stuff about you, good or bad but at the end of the day you know what what really matters is the opinion of the people who actually matter to you you know there's if a certain someone who can have an effect on you as a

person or can have an effect on you in the career that you have then obviously that's the crucial one you know people who don't have who can't influence your career in whatever career you're in are going to say something good going to say something bad then but they can't influence where you're going to go then why should that matter Why should that affect you? You know, I've been through both. I've been, you know, I've had, you know, the book thrown at me. I've also had people, you know, wanting everything to do with me.

But then those same people who want everything to do with me would then, you know, throwing the book at me a year later. So I don't really care about them. Fair enough. Yeah. coming into the game, fairly fresh into the game. Yeah, massive. And I think, you know, it's not just me.

I think it's everyone associated with, you know, just talking from a cricket term, everybody associated with, you know, the England team at the moment is we have a massive understanding of the role that we play off the field, not just on the field, especially since, you know, the World Cup and what the Ashes managed to do for cricket in England. You know, we've got such a big role to play as ambassadors of the game. Because since 2005, this is probably the best. biggest opportunity that we have as an organisation to really take the game to the next level for the next female cricketers and next male cricketers. It's an awesome thing to be a part of

and to think about where this game could be in 10 years' time and we're very, very conscious that yeah, we've got to go out and produce entertaining cricket on the field, but we know that we have a huge responsibility to gather interest in the game and, you know, produce the next England cricketers because you have to get them into the game at a young age and I feel as if we've done that from 2019 that's summer that we had but it's all about continuing doing that because yeah in 10 15 years time if one person says I'd start playing cricket because of what 2019 was that would be awesome even just one that'll be awesome thing to look back on when we're retired old and can't walk because of what we've done on the field that that we've inspired you know the next generation of cricketers from

what we managed to do in 2019 and onwards. It's a really exciting thing to think about. Well, Ben, you're absolutely playing your part in all of that. So we thank you for that. And all the best with the IPL. And over the next six months or so, yeah, we wish you all the best. So thank you very much for your time.

No worries. Thanks, Isha. This is the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Well, that was fantastic to be able to speak to Ben Stokes. Just to get a little bit more insight from him as a person. We're very much aware of his abilities on the field and as a catalyst to some of England's most remarkable moments, whether he's involved in it or not, you can tell the England team feed off his energy. But not only has he evolved as a cricketer, but as a person as well, based on the journey that he has been on and the one that he's still going on now and the responsibility he feels he has as well. Just, yeah, wonderful to be able to speak to him. So thanks very much to Ben.

You can stay tuned for full match IPL commentary on Five Live Sports Extra all the way up to the final. And Ben Stokes is very much going to be there with the Rajstan Royals. It's going to be a fascinating conclusion. I just wonder who's going to be in that top four.