Stokes ‘blessed’ to be England captain

Ben Stokes says he is “blessed” to be captain after his England team defeated New Zealand in the first Test.

No captain in the history of Test cricket has reached 10 wins faster.

“There are 10 other people who have to go out there and do a job,” Stokes told BBC Sport. “I’m very lucky to be able to captain this team at the moment.”

England needed less than a session to take the five remaining wickets required for victory on the fourth day in Mount Maunganui.

New Zealand, resuming on 63-5 in their chase of 394, lost Michael Bracewell to the spin of Jack Leach in the third over of the day before James Anderson ran through the tail to finish with 4-18.

The Black Caps were bowled out for 126, giving England victory by 267 runs.

It is England’s first win in New Zealand since 2008 and their first in a day-night Test overseas.

For Stokes, a 10th win in 12 matches as skipper tied the record of Australian Lindsay Hassett, who succeeded Don Bradman as captain in 1949. The previous fastest England captain to 10 wins was Michael Vaughan, in 16 matches.

“When you look at captaincy records, it’s only a small part of it,” said 31-year-old Stokes.

“It’s not only my captaincy and ideas that are allowing us to play this way, you also have to have the players fully behind you, to follow you out there with what you want to do.

“I’ve got off to a great start with my captaincy, but most of that has got to go down to the players.”

England’s winning streak is the first time they have won six successive Tests since 2010. If they win the second and final Test in Wellington, starting on Friday (Thursday 22:00 GMT), they will record seven victories in a row for the first time in 19 years.

The tourists’ pace attack in Mount Maunganui included 40-year-old Anderson and 36-year-old Stuart Broad alongside Ollie Robinson, who had treatment for a shin problem on day three.

However, Stokes said he cannot see changes to his team as long as “everyone is feeling fresh as a daisy”.

The Wellington encounter will be England’s final Test of the winter before a summer that includes the Ashes series against Australia.

With the likes of batter Jonny Bairstow and pace bowlers Mark Wood and Jofra Archer not part of the squad in New Zealand, Stokes said he could have a “selection nightmare” when all players are available.

“It’s great to have so many world-class players to choose from, said Stokes. “I don’t like to look too far ahead, but we’ll have a good crop of players to choose from in the Ashes.”

During the Test in Mount Maunganui, Stokes hit a record-breaking 108th career six in Test cricket, going past the previous best of 107 set by England coach Brendon McCullum.

Stokes, who has played 90 Tests, said he thinks his record will be taken by England team-mate Harry Brook, who has made a stellar start to his career.

Playing only his fifth Test, Brook, 23, was named player of the match for the third time for scores of 89 and 54, made from 81 and 41 balls respectively.

Brook is averaging 77.87 in Test cricket and his strike-rate of 96.88 is the highest of any batter with at least 500 runs. He has already hit 15 sixes.

“The amount of freedom we have going out to bat is phenomenal,” said Brook.

“I’ve never felt like that before. I feel like I can go out and do whatever I want. Even if there’s six people on the boundary, I’m still allowed to try to clear them.”