2-2 verdict fair reflection of series: Ben Stokes

England’s Ben Stokes, the skipper who sat out of the fifth and final Test owing to injury, called the 2-2 verdict a fair reflection in a series where fortunes kept fluctuating right till the very end.

“I think the series as a whole even before this game, it was just all four games going to five days. This one again. It's been toe to toe for 25 days. You know, two teams, two very good teams who have thrown everything at each other and left nothing out there,” said Stokes at the post-match press conference here at The Oval on Monday.

“From a cricket fan's point of view 2-2 is probably fair. Obviously, we're disappointed now to have not got the result that we wanted to give us a series win, there's obviously that disappointment and a little bit of frustration there as well from everyone. But as a massive advocate of this format and Test cricket as a whole, this has certainly been one of those series that could hopefully keep off that narrative around Test cricket is dying. As an advocate of the game the series has been fantastic to be part of.”

England dropped six catches that proved too costly in the end and Stokes admitted it made a lot of difference. “Six chances is obviously a lot. If we do take those, probably would be chasing something smaller than that. But you can go over so many moments in a five day Test match and all the time you spend out in the field and say, if this had been slightly different, we could have been in a slightly different situation, sat here talking to you guys. No one means to drop catches, obviously. But I think if we look back on that, you could say that those chances that we did put down did cost us.”

“Back to Headingley, when we chased down those runs, India dropped quite a few chances off us, and that probably contributed to us winning. So yeah, maybe if we did hold on to those chances, things could have been a little bit different. But no one means to drop catches, dropped catches are a part of the game.”