Southampton: Stand-in England captain Ben Stokes on Sunday after his side's four-wicket defeat to West Indies in the first Test of three-match series, said he was "proud" of his team-mates despite.
"You know, I can't fault anybody, everybody is exhausted up in the changing rooms, especially after today you know. It's an exhausting period of the game on that day five when you're out on the field and you're trying to give everything you absolutely can. That's the message that I believed for everybody today, is you leave everything out on that field for the badge and the number under your badge," Stokes said.
Stokes further said, "So I'm proud of each and everyone, all the other ten lads out there but we'll have to learn from the experiences from this game where we knew where we lost it."
Stokes - standing in for regular skipper Joe Root who was away for the birth of his second child - called for his batsmen to be more "ruthless" in the other two matches in the series.
When asked about the return of regular captain Joe Root for the rest of the series, Stokes said, "You know, welcoming Joe back in next week is great form a team point of view. Obviously, he's one of the best players in the world, so he is a big miss when he doesn't play and looking forward to welcoming him back. But next week I don't have to make any of those decisions so yeah, good luck Joe!"
Speaking about the exclusion of veteran fast bowler Stuart Broad, Stokes said, "To see the desire and passion that he showed in the answers that he gave, if he didn't ... if he wasn't like that, then I'd be worried. You know, it was just 'oh yeah, oh well, just hope to get picked for the next one' then you know, I'd be a bit concerned. To see somebody like that who's played over 100 Test matches, got us so many wickets as he has, to still see that fire burning deep inside and want to go out and perform for England at every opportunity, it's fantastic to see as a senior player in this team and amazing to still see that in somebody who's played so many games."
The Second Test takes place at Old Trafford, starting on Thursday.
