T20 World Cup 2022: England white-ball coach Matthew Mott has put trust in all-rounder Ben Stokes’s abilities and thinks he can come good against Australia on Friday (October 28).
Stokes, who returned to cricketing action last year after a hiatus of five months due to mental health issues has primarily been a red-ball player in 2022.
He led the team to successive Test series victories against New Zealand and South Africa, while also dominating India in a one-off fixture against India. The 31-year-old contributed 697 runs in 20 innings at an average of 36.68, with two centuries.
However, Ben Stokes has been enduring bad form in the T20Is, wherein he has accumulated only 17 runs in five innings this year.
T20 World Cup 2022: England coach Matthew Mott backs Ben Stokes to shine against Australia
In his last outing in the T20 World Cup 2022 against Ireland, the southpaw could only contribute 6 to the team’s score.
In this regard, Mott hopes Stokes can deliver his best against their arch-rivals England, which may decide their fate in the showpiece event.
Mott reckons Stokes has been doing well with the ball during the powerplay overs. He further took the all-rounder’s career as an inference and thinks that the Australiana game can bring the best out of Stokes due to the significance of the result.
“I think he’s bowled some big overs, particularly in the Powerplay,” Mott said. “With the bat, he hasn’t come off yet. But his career would suggest that at some point someone’s going to pay a price, and hopefully, that’s Australia,” said Mott.
The 49-year-old stated that the Three Lions are motivated for a strong comeback after facing a loss against Ireland in their last outing.
Furthermore, Mott highlighted that they have been in good form leading up to the tournament, and are in good space.
Ahead of the T20 WC 2022, England secured a 4-3 T20I series victory against Pakistan and also emerged victorious in the Australia T20I series with 2-0 being the series equation.
“You very rarely go through these tournaments undefeated, so I expect us to bounce back well.
I think we played solid cricket the last month. We had a bad day (against Ireland), we’re not going to throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
