England captain Ben Stokes has admitted he put "too
much emphasis" on next year's Ashes in Australia and will now be
"toning down expectations".
At the beginning of the home summer, Stokes explained an
overhaul of his team, including the retirement of James Anderson, was
done with the Ashes in mind.
Before they travel down under next November, England have
the final Test in New Zealand, a one-off match at home to Zimbabwe in May and a
marquee five-Test series hosting India.
"In interviews in the summer and stuff like that a lot
was pointed towards the Ashes, which was a long way away," said Stokes.
"You do always have one eye on that but we have six
more Tests before that.
"It's just making sure I keep my focus on being in the
here and now and what we've got coming up, and when the Ashes is our next
series, then we will focus on it."
England start their 17th, and final, Test of 2024 in
Hamilton on Saturday (22:00 GMT Friday) with the chance to become only the
third visiting side to win a three-match series 3-0 in New Zealand. Just once
before, in 2016, have England played 17 Tests in a calendar year.
After a number of players opted to drive north from
second-Test venue Wellington, England did not name a team on Thursday and will
instead wait until Friday's training session.
Stokes said he expects Harry Brook - the world's new
number-one Test batter - to be fit after an ankle problem, but hinted
at freshening up the pace-bowling attack.
"Even though we finished early in Wellington it felt
like all the overs from the seamers were more than the scorecard because of the
weather," he said. "The lads put in tough graft, so we'll see how
they pull up."
The finale in Hamilton is also the last before Test head
coach Brendon McCullum brings the England white-ball teams under his control
early new year.
Asked if he expected to be part of England's plans for a
tour of India in January and the Champions Trophy in February, all-rounder
Stokes simply said: "We'll see".
Before the home series against West Indies in July, England
took the decision to end the international career of Anderson, their all-time
leading wicket-taker.
Wicketkeeper Jamie Smith was chosen ahead of Ben Foakes and
Jonny Bairstow, and Shoaib Bashir promoted over Jack Leach as first-choice
spinner.
At the time, 18 months before the Australia tour, Stokes
said: "We had to make some decisions around what we think is best for the
team going into that Ashes series. We want to go out there and we want to get
that urn back."
The captain's stance was a sharp pivot away from the message
of his previous two years in charge, when he and coach McCullum would insist on
focusing on the task at hand.
And in Hamilton on Thursday, 33-year-old Stokes said:
"Through my own fault I maybe spoke a little too much about the Ashes and
putting too much emphasis on that series considering how much cricket we had to
play before that.
"Every Englishman and Australian knows the Ashes is a
big series for both teams, but toning down on the expectations on that series
is something I will be better at in the build-up.
"In leadership roles, you can differ from where you
first started and think that's the right thing to be saying or be thinking
about, which then takes you away from what has been a successful mindset. It's
a learning curve as a leader, I guess."
