Ben Stokes has taken the lead as England captain in Pakistan by donating £50,000 towards the flood relief appeal.
Stokes has donated his entire match fees from the three match series, in the region of £15,000 per match, towards the appeal following the devastating floods that took the lives of at least 1,700 people. The England T20 squad made a donation to the appeal during their series in September with the series sponsor Bank Alfalah donating cash for every six hit during the series.
This though is a personal move by Stokes who wanted to use his position as the first England Test captain to lead his side in this country for 17 years to do some good and support people in crisis with nearly 8 million displaced from their homes.
Stokes said: “It is great to be in Pakistan for the first time for this historic series. To be back here as a Test side after 17 years is very exciting. There is a sense of responsibility amongst the playing and support group and to be here is special.
“The floods that devastated Pakistan earlier in the year were very sad to see and has had a significant impact on the country and the people. The game has given me a lot in my life and I feel it is only right to give something back that goes far beyond cricket.
“I will be donating my match fees from this Test series to the Pakistan flood appeal. Hopefully this donation can go towards the rebuilding of areas of Pakistan most affected by the flooding.”
Other England players may choose to join Stokes in making a donation, especially those who did not take part in the T20 series, as the goodwill between the two countries continues to grow off the field. The two sets of players actually shared the ground in Rawalpindi for their first training sessions before the first Test starts on Thursday.
And England head coach Brendon McCullum could hardly hide his excitement at the thought of unleashing his ‘rockstars’ on the Pakistani team and seeing whether their aggressive style of cricket can work just as well on tour as it did at home during the summer.
“The skipper wants the players to be rockstars and to be a rockstar you've got to play in front of the big houses,” said McCullum. “We've got that opportunity to do that. We want to try and entertain people. For us it's about trying to play that style. It's not always going to be successful, we know that, but I think what we've seen in a short period of time is that it can unlock your skill.
“If we're able to put a positive slant on it, and an aggressive slant on our style of play then it allows our talent to come out. It remains to be seen how that will go on the road but I still envisage that we will – I would expect us to still play positive cricket.”
And with positive cricket, McCullum hopes they can continue the positive results to go with the six from seven so far. England have drawn 16 of their 22 Tests in Pakistan up to now, but McCullum doesn’t expect that ratio to remain the same by Christmas.
“To win away from home is the greatest accomplishment you can achieve as a Test player and as a Test side,” he added. "I’m really excited. I don’t know if we’re going to win the series. I can almost guarantee when the skipper comes in here in 48 hours time he’ll say there’ll be no draws in the series. We’ll certainly be pushing for results because we see it as our obligation to try and ensure that people walk away entertained. And if we get beat, Pakistan, we know, will have played well.”
