Stokes ready to shoulder burden of England captaincy

By STEVE DOUGLAS
AP Sports Writer

Selecting allrounders to captain England’s test cricket team hasn’t always worked so well in the past but Ben Stokes is sure he can make it work. Stokes accepted the biggest job in English cricket last week and it sparked concerns that the captaincy will weigh heavy on a player of whom so much is asked already. Two of England’s greatest allrounders in Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff struggled after taking on the role down the years. Stokes is the first allrounder to become captain since Flintoff and has dismissed the relevance of any comparisons.