'Ab jo hona tha wo hogya, aage badho' - Fans react to Ben Stokes' statement on declaring early on Day 1 of Ashes 2023

Following England's two-wicket loss to Australia during the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, Ben Stokes justified his choice to declare the first innings at 393 for 8. On the first evening, when Stokes brought his batters in, Joe Root was undefeated at 118 and had just scored 20 runs with Ollie Robinson off a single Nathan Lyon over. This gave England 20 minutes for bowling against Australia's openers.

Usman Khawaja, as well as David Warner, survived the two overs of bowling from Robinson as well as Stuart Broad to end the first day at 14 for 0, with Khawaja remaining unbeaten to reach 141 during the first innings.

Former England captains lined up to say that they might not have declared during the same circumstances and criticised Stokes' choice in the media. And his claim was once more called into doubt in light of England's tight defeat late in the final evening.

Ben Stokes spoke to the media during the post-match press conference and discussed the declaration. He said, “If we were in the same position? Yeah. I would like to be 398 for 6 with 20 minutes left. That would be great. I could also turn it around and say, 'if we didn't declare, would we have got the excitement that we did at the end of day five?' I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I'm not going to be looking back on this game as 'what ifs'... the reality is, we just didn't manage to get over the line."

The winning runs were scored by Australia's skipper Pat Cummins, who also claimed four wickets in the second innings to lead Australia to victory. Cummins admitted he would "probably not" have made a declaration in the same situation. Pat Cummins, who played a captain’s knock in the First test match spoke to the media in the post-match conference and discussed the England declaration. He said, "I wasn't overly surprised. But the wicket felt pretty good, so I thought every run was pretty much needed in that first innings."

Fans react to Ben Stokes' statement on declaring early on Day 1 of Ashes 2023: -

Ben Stokes said, "I could also turn it around and say if we didn't declare, would we have got the excitement that we did on day 5? It's all about what if, reality is we didn't manage to cross the line". pic.twitter.com/p5hWNsyQA4

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) June 21, 2023

Honestly in my opinion, the 1st innings declaration costs @ECB_cricket the match.

Had they scored another 50-60 runs there, this would have been their match.

— AkhileshKumar Singh (@iakhileshksingh) June 21, 2023

Thats exactly what i said🥲😒
And people keep fighting with me for that
What stokes did was nothing wrong
They lost becos they could not take last 2 wickets and gave away 50runs

— msd_stan (@bdrijalab) June 21, 2023

It probably isnt. He can come back with a lot of what if, but I dont think one can think that far ahead on day 1. If he’s saying he thought the match can likely to go for a draw had he not declare hurriedly, he probably doesnt have enough failth on his bowlers.

— Abhishek Roy। অভিষেক রায় (@abhishekroy82) June 21, 2023

This can put a long debate over this weekend but that's how England has been playing for last 18 months of so. Not everytime an opposition gonna chase 281 in 4th innings & win the game. It just didn't happen the way England wished for. Nevertheless a brilliant game

— Sarbojit Shome (@SarbojitShome) June 21, 2023

Both the first innings declaration and second innings intent was refreshing, not sure any other team would have done so..a good wk and less of Joe Root’s spin (albeit due to the injury to Moin ) would have seen them through..

— PratSas (@prat_sas) June 21, 2023

Irrespective of the match situation (coz now it's all a retrospective view) Day 1 was the best day for batting and Root was playing superbly well.

— Prasad Utekar (@prus26) June 21, 2023

Before bazball they lost 9 series, u live by the sword u die by the sword ,lots of people were saying Aus will score 600 but eng took the lead and if they had held there chances nd moeen injury not happened they would have won the match and we would be appreciating declaration

— Raazi (@Rg86037221) June 21, 2023

Ben Stokes made a bold decision of declaring on first day. Luck matters and that was the reason of their lose. Cummins came out of syllabus

— Sports syncs (@moiz_sports) June 21, 2023

Even after declaration they had to take only 2 wkts with 50 plus runs in hand so i think they lost the rhythm there. Declaration was what made the result possible.

— cric freak (@Prashan87368118) June 21, 2023

Ben stokes is promoting test cricket 🔥🔥but at the cost of own team loss

— The_cricket (@The_cricket18) June 21, 2023

But his batting graph is down, he didn't contribute even in flat deck in Pakistan, neither against aus

— GOAT RO45HIT (@immTonyStark) June 21, 2023

England will bounce back strongly..wait and watch

— cricketfan (@crckt1010) June 21, 2023