Yeah, I've been kinda thinking the same.........the way the test played out afterwards has certainly taken the buzz I had on day 2 away.
But really it shouldn't.........it is still one of the great destructive innings and what eventuated doesnt change that.
Yeah but you know what ultimately gets remembered or not is often due to unknown and uncontrollable factors. I remember Nathan Astle played a blistering knock of 222, and at that time everyone was talking about. Now about 15 years later, it's not mentioned as much, despite being a great innings. I suspect it has to do with NZ not winning that game? I reckon this innings by Stokes might go down that path as well.
Still don't see why the timing was a good idea unless SA always had a captaincy by committee approach.
I think in the recent past, we are seeing a lot of these mid series retirements, resignations, announcements. I think this is more a reflection of the times. There were these unwritten rules back in the days about not making such announcements in the middle of the series but slowly that is changing and I think it's just a reflection of different generation and their own way of thinking.
I think a lot of players like Swann, Dhoni, Amla who have made these calls, have placed more importance on what is better for the team from here onwards.
Amla obviously feels that South Africa have a better chance of winning this series with someone else at the helm, and that takes precedence over any unwritten code in his view.
Personally, I am in support of this now. I think teams these days are so used to playing under different captains, in different formats, I don't think it will make that much of a difference.
For example, Kohli is already test captain, if Dhoni decides to retire from ODI and T20 suddenly, Kohli taking over won't be that big of a deal because the team is already used to him as a captain.
