"I Cannot Remember...": England Captain Ben Stokes Brands WTC 'Utterly Confusing'

England Test Captain Ben Stokes said on Thursday that the England team does not specifically think about the ICC World Test Championship while playing, terming the tournament as "utterly confusing" reported Widen. The skipper's comments came ahead of the opening Test against New Zealand of the Thorpe-Crowe Trophy. In the WTC 2023-25 race, England is ranked sixth, while Kiwis are placed two spots above at fourth. England finished fourth in the previous WTC cycle, and this time around as well, they have crashed out of contention for a title clash appearance at Lord's.

Stokes says that his team believes in taking things "game by game, series by series", which does not align with the long-term nature of the WTC, with each cycle spread across three years.

"In all honesty, the World Test Championship is a bit confusing; it is one of those where, you know, we do not really look at it, I do not look at it. It is one of those where, over a long period of time, if you are playing really good cricket and you are getting results that you want, you will end up finding yourself there in the final and in the mix," said Stokes as quoted by Wisden.

"For me and this team, it is about taking it game by game, series by series, and if you end up finding yourself in the position where you happen to be in that world test championship final, then it is great, but it is a real weird one knowing that you are playing for something over a long period of time."

"I cannot remember if I have ever even given any real time to be specifically thinking about the World Test Championship to be honest because it is utterly confusing, we play a lot more cricket than anyone else does, that is just what we try and focus on, you know, if we play well, we will be