Julia (she/they)

@treefern06.bsky.social

Viennese first, Austrian only if you force me to admit that. Lawperson, hobby cook, sports nerd who particularly loves men's and women's cricket (supporting England and New Zealand) and football (FK Austria Wien, Liverpool FC); bi, leftist, happily OAD.

Seems to be from a sense of duty. Definitely better batting without it. And look at Stokes now at Durham. It's just cursed. But then Australia brought back Steve Smith to captain, which is a whole other level of 'is there no one else'

Can't say I didn't see it coming. Probably the right time, but there's no need to bash everything that happened in the past 4 years. It was mostly absolutely brilliant- and some of the tests we played with Baz will stay in my memory for a long time. 🏏💙

Ka mahuta a Matariki i te pae, ka mahuta ō tātou tūmanako ki te tau. When Matariki rises above the horizon, our aspirations rise to the year ahead. Aotearoa New Zealand friends: may our shared aspirations for this new year come true.

A Brit in the semis of Wimbledon, England still in the World Cup and Nigel Farage spending the summer arguing with a bin. Oh this happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea

Oh, he wears the number 20, he'll lead us to victory! And when he's running down the left wing, he'll cut inside and score for LFC! He's a lad from Portugal, better than Figo, don't you know? Oh, his name is Diogo! Can't believe it's a year. Remembering Diogo Jota and Andre Silva today. YNWA.

But captaincy is exhausting, and having to keep your energy and focus up for long innings, whether with bat or ball, is relentlessly demanding. When you're done, you're done. I hope he is okay with his decision- I'm certainly going to miss him but he's earned the right to do this on his own terms.

Apart from the fact he is actually Kiwi - and Māori - Ben Stokes was one of the most exciting players I've ever seen in an England shirt, in all three formats. And a magnificent captain, especially in the last four years. I can understand why his players would run through brick walls for him 🏏💙

No-one bowls long spells like Ben Stokes. No-one turns up for big games like Ben Stokes. No-one's as creative as Ben Stokes. For there's no all-rounder in cricket half as exciting - Perfect, a pure paragon! You can ask every Joe, Pat and Aiden-and they'll tell you whose team they prefer to be on. 💙🏏

The other moment that stands out for me is when he spoke about the ICEC report on racism, sexism, classism, elitism in English cricket. I've always hated the snobbery in the UK generally and cricket specifically, especially around certain types of intelligence, so that was a v moving statement.

screenshot of a BBC news report saying:
Some 58% of men to play for England in 2021 were privately educated, significantly higher than the 7% of the general population who went to private school.

"Everyone has a different story to tell," Stokes said.

"I am Ben Stokes, born in New Zealand, a state educated pupil who dropped out of school at 16 with one GCSE in PE.

"I needed help with the spelling and grammar in this speech and am currently sitting here as the England men's Test captain."

I loved the heroics with the bat and ball, I found his approach to captaincy endlessly interesting (and fun), I'll definitely be watching some highlights! But his leadership on those tours made me proud to support this team. I hope that emotional intelligence is what his successor tries to emulate.

A lot will be said about Ben Stokes as a player and captain - he's given us plenty of material. For me, the way he captained Rehan Ahmed and Shoaib Bashir *off the field and on* in those historic tours of Pakistan stand out more than any of the heroics with the bat and ball.