England’s Ben Stokes clips Australia in wild claims over India defeat

England skipper Ben Stokes has delivered a thinly-veiled swipe at Australia while making a wild claim about the progress of his own side.

Here we go again.

Today we bring you the latest chapter in the seemingly endless supply of English cricketers making comments that defy belief.

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Ever since the term Bazball entered the cricket vernacular, every current English player has done nothing but attempt to spread the kool-aid of the aggressive approach to the game.

Even when they lose, the narrative is spun into a positive. Or even when an opposing player rips their heart out, at least they did it after being shown how to play the Bazball way.

The latest chapter comes courtesy of skipper Ben Stokes and while his remarks aren’t as egregious as others, they’re enough to remind you of that scene from Billy Madison when the presenter scolds him for his idiotic response to a question. Oh and he delivered a thinly-veiled dig at Australia in the process.

England are preparing for the fifth and final Test against India and despite the series scoreline reading 3-1 to India, Stokes says the Poms have made forward progress.

“Just because the scoreline at the moment reads 3-1, it doesn’t mean that we’ve gone backwards,” Stokes said.

“There are lots of these things that we have massively progressed on as a team whilst out on this tour.

“If you take the results by itself you’d say, ‘we’re going backwards’, but we haven’t. The individuals and the team have massively evolved on this tour.”

So three losses is a step forward? (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Stokes said the playing group was motivated to end the series on a high and said they hadn’t been “pushovers” like other teams that had toured India in the past. Yes, that’s a dig at Australia who lost 2-1 last year.

“I think the way in which everyone committed to becoming a better version of themselves from when we last played was quite obvious,” he said.

“... We haven’t been the pushovers like many teams have looked like when they’ve come over here because of how dominant a force India are in their home conditions.”

Yes we get it, India is a nightmare spot for any touring team. But saying you’ve “massively evolved” while down 3-1 is baffling.

Just for reference, England currently sit eighth on the World Test Championship standings with three wins, five losses and one draw.

They have a point percentage of 19.44, a far cry behind Australia in third (59.09), New Zealand (60) and India (64.58).

Eighth comes right after seventh. (Photo by Tauseef MUSTAFA / AFP)

After winning the first Test of the series by 28 runs, the Poms fell short in the second before capitulating in horror fashion in both the third and fourth Tests.

In the third Test they were set a monster target of 556 runs for victory, they crumbled in humiliating fashion as they were bowled out for a paltry 122 runs.

Then in the fourth Test they had a golden opportunity to set the hosts a massive fourth innings run chase. But once again the Bazball approach completely fell apart.

They were swept aside for only 145 runs, which Indian made light work of as they secured the series victory.

But don’t let the results fool you, this England team is soaring … or so the current crop of players would like us to believe.

While Stokes’ remarks are headscratching, they pale in comparison to those made by England opener Ben Duckett in the wake of the third Test capitulation.

The Bazball kool-aid continues to run rampant. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

Duckett heaped praise on India’s Yashasvi Jaiswal following a masterful century display, but claimed his attacking intent was a by product of how Bazball had changed the game.

“When you see players from the opposition playing like that, it almost feels like we should take some credit that they’re playing differently than how other people play Test cricket,” Duckett said.

“We saw it a bit in the summer and it’s quite exciting to see other players and other teams are also playing that aggressive style of cricket.”

Former Australian skipper Michael Clarke was quick to put the Poms in their place over their Bazball ignorance, reminding them their aggressive approach is nothing new and that teams of the past did it with far more success.

The fifth Test between India and England gets underway on Thursday in Dharamsala.