Ben Stokes...

[MacAdder]

If anyone in the press has a pop at stokes or Biles for taking a break they should be removed from their job in my opinion. It's well known what they've been through in the recent past.

I wonder if there was an element of stokes throwing himself back into the cricket in the aftermath of losing his dad, maybe it's all catching up with him now. Feel for him, can't ever be nice to lose a parent. But to then have to spend so much time in quarantine alone with your thoughts in the aftermath must make it even harder to cope with mentally.

Never quite seen the fuss in stokes the player myself, but apart from a couple of high profile mistakes he's always seemed like a well grounded decent bloke.

Ben Stokes is a phenomenal player when he is on his game and his head is right.
The way he carried his team in the world cup, particularly the final, typifies the man.

Wasn't really a fan of him to be perfectly honest but that world cup, in particular that final innings where he took the responsibility and guided his partners through the run chase, for me puts him among the best players in the world.

I concur with the above posts, the game is completely different to say the 70's and 80's where there was usually "banter" between player and supporter (Headingly aside of course!).
Nowadays, particularly with the quick forms of cricket being introduced and day/night games allowing people to attend after work, it is very much like a football match with full on barracking and abuse pretty much the norm, in international cricket anyway.

Back to the OP, it takes a brave person to do what Ben Stokes has done, especially if you are less well known.
As Kevin Pietersen said the other day, if you don't deal with the different pressures that come with top class sport then somebody else will.
This is the harsh reality.

Personally I hope this is a minor blip in Stokes's career as I think he has the potential to be one of the greats.

[Jordi Culé]

Ben Stokes is a phenomenal player when he is on his game and his head is right.
The way he carried his team in the world cup, particularly the final, typifies the man.

Wasn't really a fan of him to be perfectly honest but that world cup, in particular that final innings where he took the responsibility and guided his partners through the run chase, for me puts him among the best players in the world.

I concur with the above posts, the game is completely different to say the 70's and 80's where there was usually "banter" between player and supporter (Headingly aside of course!).
Nowadays, particularly with the quick forms of cricket being introduced and day/night games allowing people to attend after work, it is very much like a football match with full on barracking and abuse pretty much the norm, in international cricket anyway.

Back to the OP, it takes a brave person to do what Ben Stokes has done, especially if you are less well known.
As Kevin Pietersen said the other day, if you don't deal with the different pressures that come with top class sport then somebody else will.
This is the harsh reality.

Personally I hope this is a minor blip in Stokes's career as I think he has the potential to be one of the greats.

Fully agree with you about the bravery shown by Ben Stokes.

My dig at Piers Morgan is due to the fact he had no trouble stating an opinion on Biles or Osaka.