How many Test matches did England win under Ben Stokes?

England have played 44 Test matches under the leadership of Ben Stokes. They have earned 24 victories out of them at a win-loss ratio of 1.33, losing 18 games.

How many runs Ben Stokes made as the England captain in Tests?

As the Test captain of the England side, Ben Stokes smashed 2301 runs in 76 innings at an average of 31.95, thanks to his 11 fifties and three centuries at the best score of 155.

How many wickets Ben Stokes took as the England captain in Tests?

As the England Test captain, Ben Stokes remained their leading wicket-taker with 84 scalps in 58 innings at an average of 27.46, thanks to two five-wicket hauls.

How Ben Stokes and Bazball changed England Tests since 2022

Q: How many Test series did England win under Ben Stokes?

England won six series out of 14, including four drawn series. The only series they lost, other than against Australia and India, came in 2024 when they went 2-1 down against Pakistan. (The rescheduled Test match vs India hasn’t been considered).

By the end of the Caribbean trip at the start of 2022, when England lost the series by a 1-0 margin, their captain, Joe Root, looked dead on his feet in terms of leadership skills. He was drained by all the responsibility, media interaction, outside noise, and shouldering the side with his batting. That pushed the board to bring Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes into the new project.

At the start of their tenure, it was just a normal relationship between a captain and a coach of a national side. But as they started to gain success in the first couple of games, a new term arrived- Bazball. That comes from the nickname of McCullum (Baz) as it was coined to describe the fearless, aggressive, and entertaining brand of cricket by the England Test side.

The philosophy of the red-ball side changed during the tenure. In the old days, the openers were always given the job of seeing off the new ball, trying to defend it as much as they could, leave the ball, put pressure on the opposition, and do everything possible to keep the middle order in the hut against the new ball.

Bazball was different. It was about the entertainment of the game without any fear of failure. McCullum, in his playing days, used to jog in that same direction. But he expressed his dislike for the term, stating that it’s a media creation that oversimplifies the team’s strategic effort and the tactical nuance.

In the past, England’s Test success under Alastair Cook created issues for the white-ball team, because the focus was always on the red-ball staff as players continued to miss the series. Once the dark days of World Cup failure came, and English cricket moved to Eoin Morgan to save their ODI and T20I cricket, their red-ball team started to lose grip.

In the Bazball era, England won seven series out of 15, including four drawn series. The only series they lost, other than against Australia and India, came in 2024 when they went 2-1 down against Pakistan.

Bazball had its success towards the start of the tenure, but time passed, and teams started to analyze the approach with pressure on doing well against big teams; it started to get fractured.

Bazball's golden run: How England turned Test cricket around in 2022 and stunned Pakistan away

The very first sight of Bazball came in 2022 against New Zealand at Lord’s, when they won the contest by five wickets under Ben Stokes. After a poor first innings with the bat, the home side was given a target of 279 runs.

Two years ago, at the same venue, England kept defending to spoil any potential chance of reaching the target. But in 2022, the story was different. They chased down the target in 78.5 overs with their veteran player, Joe Root, remaining unbeaten on 115 runs in 170 balls.

But that was not even close to what was actually to come. At Trent Bridge, during the second Test, England posted 539 runs at a run rate of 4.2 in reply to the Kiwis’ massive first innings score of 553. If that wasn’t enough, they chased down the target of 299 runs off just 50 overs, with Jonny Bairstow playing a jaw-dropping knock of 136 runs off 92 balls at a strike rate of around 148.

Their aggressive approach remained the same even during the third encounter at Leeds, where they chased 296 runs off just 54.2 overs and clinched the series by a 3-0 margin.

The challenge went bigger when India came back for their rescheduled fifth Test at Edgbaston from the series that was halted in 2021 due to Covid-19. The visitors, under the leadership of Jasprit Bumrah, were pretty confident in the defense of 377 runs. But the hosts completed the successful chase in just 76.4 overs despite being 109/3. Root and Bairstow shared a 269-run stand for the fourth wicket in just 316 balls.

“There are no complaints. Sometimes, teams will be better than us, but no one will be braver than us, said Jack Leach. We are trying to rewrite how Test cricket is played in England.” Stokes said in the post-match presentation as things started to fall in their favour.

In Manchester, during their next series against South Africa, they posted 415 runs for the loss of nine wickets in just 106.4 overs. That included a 122-ball stand for 91 runs and a 173-run partnership off 324 runs. If one feels it was aggressive and entertaining, then they have no idea what happened in Pakistan in the winter.

During the first Test, the Stokes’ army posted 657 runs in 101 overs, with three of their batters, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, and Harry Brook getting centuries at a strike rate of more than 100. Meanwhile, Ben Duckett, the fourth century, got 107 runs off 110 balls. It resulted in their 3-0 series victory.

Bazball wasn’t only about the fearless batting but also about the innovative field set-up. Stokes would put seven players like an Umbrella around the batter and continue to go with the short ball. It would be a test of determination and a challenge to the opposition to do something out of the box.

They started to challenge the teams even outside home. But their main challenge was always going to be against Australia and India. As an England player, they are always judged based on how they perform in the Ashes.

The cracks in the gamble: Bazball's Ashes heartbreaks and repeated failures against India

And the Ashes 2023 began with the first-ball boundary from Zak Crawley at Edgbaston. But England were unprofessional at times. When they needed to grind the runs and make Australia toil hard in the field, they sort of backed up and put the game in the opposition’s hands.

At Lord’s during the second clash, Nathan Lyon injured his calf and went away. The visitors put five fielders on the ring and continued to bowl short balls. And shockingly, the England batters took them on and seemed to find the fielders one after another.

At Headingley, they finally got the win by three wickets before the rain in Manchester drew the game. The focus moved to the fifth and final game at the Kennington Oval in South London, where Stuart Broad, on his last day as an England player, took them over the line with the 49-run win. But the bottom line remains the same. The Bazball project failed to win its first major series.

It was followed by another vital series at the start of 2024 in India. England started with a famous win in Hyderabad but went on to lose four on the bounce. At Rajkot, they were 224/2 when Root tried to reverse scoop Bumrah and was dismissed at the slip region. That saw a collapse, losing the last eight wickets for 95 runs.

After two successive failures, the pressure started to creep in on Bazball as it saw their greatest ever, James Anderson, being retired from international cricket as the plan was to build a new pace unit for the Ashes trip by the end of 2025.

India came to England in their home summer of 2025 without the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ravichandran Ashwin, and many veteran players. Under the newly appointed captain Shubman Gill, England would always favor their chances of winning the series, but it ended in a drawn series by a 2-2 margin.

And then came the Ashes 2025/26, where the entire building fell off. On several occasions, they played reckless, meaningless, and unplanned cricket. When they needed to milk the singles and doubles in an open field, England continued to go for the hurry and left the country with a 4-1 series defeat.

And finally, at home, against New Zealand, to start the home summer in 2026, the Bazball ended with the retirement of Stokes. It takes a lot to be an England captain, but more so when one takes charge of a broken side along with being an all-rounder. The Bazball ended where it all started.

Ben Stokes has retired — Should England finally ditch Bazball?

Now the question stands whether England would completely ditch Bazball and go back to the old-fashioned grinding Test cricket. Will they ask the aggressive batters to play defensively and watch out for new chances?

But the million-dollar question remains who would become the new England Test captain. Will they go back to Joe Root or hand over the responsibility to Harry Brook, who had been the vice-captain in the last few months? Can they bring someone else from outside for the role?

“There's a reason why he was asked to be vice-captain of this team. I know with all the controversy over the last couple of weeks, some decisions were made, but those were decisions that I wasn't part of making.” Stokes said in his last press conference as an England player.

“You're asked to be vice-captain of a team for a certain reason. was vice-captain under Joe for a long time, and it's a natural progression. If the captain's not there or unavailable, then you step up to be that. So, there's absolutely no reason why Harry shouldn't be asked to do that.” Stokes expressed.

England’s next Test series will be against Pakistan, starting from August 19 at Leeds. They will play two more games at Lord’s and Edgbaston.