Stokes’ redemption a Hollywood tale
Deb Stokes was so awestruck in the immediate aftermath of the World Cup final she failed to notice that her home phone in Christchurch had been ringing off the hook.
‘‘I had left for work but Ben called Deb four times,’’ Ged, father of England all-rounder Ben, told The Daily Telegraph.
‘‘She was busy watching the replay and didn’t hear it. When she eventually picked it up he was in the changing room, full of emotion, happiness and joy. He wasn’t able to put into words how he felt. He was still on cloud nine.’’
The party was just beginning for the England team. Eight hours later, before getting his head down for three hours’ sleep, Stokes called Christchurch again, this time to speak to his father. ‘‘It was 6am British time – he was in really good shape, he sounded like he was absolutely fine, but he just wouldn’t stop talking,’’ says Ged. ‘‘He just wanted to keep talking because he was so excited and so up there that he just wanted to keep chatting and chatting.’’
Ged, a former rugby league international, explained how his son has coped over a two-year period which has transformed him from the most notorious figure in English cricket to its most celebrated – the match-winning hero of Lord’s.
He is happy to talk because he is ‘‘so, so pleased for the people of England. They have been so supportive and people have seemed over the moon that Ben has done well, but more so that the England team has done well’’.
Ged recognises his son’s story is one of ‘‘redemption, making up for it’’ as he reflects on the street brawl outside a Bristol nightclub that would lead to him going on trial for affray less than 12 months ago. ‘‘It would have been very easy to fall out of love with cricket when he was going through that, wondering whether he would even be able to play the Ashes,’’ Ged says. ‘‘It was a very hard time in his life. The uncertainty of everything.
‘‘He came through it with flying colours, though. Every time you have an experience like that, you bank it and you get to situations like Sunday.’’
Deb’s work in victim support and Ged’s career as a corrections officer meant Stokes was always sure of a frank appraisal from his parents as he attempted to clear his name.
‘‘We knew that process would be lengthy, but we also knew all the way through that there were a lot of things that other people didn’t know. We backed our son 100 per cent, knowing that, in lots of ways, he had done the right thing in that situation.’’
Stokes was acquitted after telling Bristol Crown Court that he feared being violently attacked by two men carrying weapons as he intervened to protect a gay couple on the receiving end of homophobic abuse. His father recognises he and then England team-mate Alex Hales had put themselves in a vulnerable position.
‘‘Nothing good happens at two in the morning,’’ he says. ‘‘Some of the
decisions that were made, to actually be there, were flawed and he knows that, and everybody knows that. But everything that happened was unavoidable because Ben was never going to not do something when two people, who just couldn’t protect themselves, were being victimised.’’
The hardest experience for the Stokes family was the ‘‘long time for the truth to come out’’ before the jury rapidly came to its verdict after a seven-day trial.
‘‘The whole situation was stressful,’’ says Ged. ‘‘It was very hard on Ben. Very, very hard on the people around him. But we all knew that at the end the truth would out.’’
The Stokes family have been moved by the goodwill shown after Stokes’ magnificent innings against New Zealand. Ged also remembers the criticism he faced after the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup final against West Indies, when Carlos Brathwaite hit four consecutive sixes from Stokes’ final over to snatch the unlikeliest of wins.
Ged agrees his son’s story has the whiff of Hollywood. ‘‘The words redemption, making up for it, not just that incident but the T20 World Cup, that last over . . . He was simply disappointed then because the team had worked hard to win the World Cup, the country had wanted them to win it, and he felt like he had let them down.’’
The ordeal of recent years has ‘‘100 per cent’’ strengthened him. ‘‘Ben has always been a really good person, so drawing from the experiences and learnings that he got from this past couple of years is huge for him.
‘‘It’s just like the growing pains for anyone. Different things happen to different people at different stages of their lives. It’s how you react to those things that will really dictate how much they can do. Ben hasn’t changed one little bit. He is just normal to us and this won’t change Ben at all.’’
There is no shortage of mental toughness between the pair. At team photos, Stokes often bends one of his fingers in homage to his rugbyplaying father, who had one amputated after playing through the pain for almost a season.
‘‘He evidenced on Sunday the fact that he is tremendously mentally strong,’’ said Ged of Stokes’ undefeated innings of 84 compiled under the most intense pressure. ‘‘To be able to cope with the whole situation during that match and at the end of that match . . . I just think that comes from experience and the time that he spent in high-pressure games, in front of big crowds.
‘‘But that was a whole new planet in terms of pressure for anybody. I don’t think there’s any experience that could prepare you for that. I guess he had the fortitude and the mental toughness to be able to block those things out.’’
As Stokes walked back out for the super over, Ged, watching on from Christchurch, stared intensely at the TV footage to study his son’s facial expression. ‘‘You could see after the game, with all the emotion and all that pressure it started to show on his face,’’ he says. ‘‘He was brought to tears and that really takes something. It’s great, there’s nothing wrong with it but, generally, he would be the first to say that he wouldn’t normally show that emotion. That day, it all came out.’’
The next day – as the team showed off the trophy at the Oval and then headed to a Downing Street reception – was a ‘‘blast’’ for Stokes.
‘‘It’s probably not Ben’s thing to do those sorts of formal situations, but I think he surprised himself. He called his brother from the Oval and said ‘this is unreal’.’’
Ged, meanwhile, had returned to work. ‘‘I got plenty of grief, don’t worry, but it was all tongue-incheek,’’ he said. ‘‘The overwhelming talk was about ‘what a game’. People were saying they couldn’t believe it.’’
Ged would also like to clarify exactly who he was supporting, given reports before the final that said he would be unreservedly backing New Zealand.
‘‘As a Kiwi, I will always support New Zealand teams, but I have an affinity for the England team as well, for obvious reasons. My son plays for them, but we know a lot of the England lads.’’
The close bond with the likes of Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Jos Buttler stems back to the family’s time in Cumbria, where they moved when Ged was appointed head coach of Workington Town rugby league club. Thankfully for England, Stokes stayed, signing forms initially with Cockermouth and then Durham.
‘‘They used to play against Ben and they were all in the England training camps for their age groups all together. They all came out here to New Zealand for the 19-year-old World Cup, so we know all their families, we couldn’t lose that day. If New Zealand won, fine, and if England won, fantastic. And if Ben did well – even better.’’
Ged and Deb are now waiting to be reunited with Stokes, his wife Clare and two grandchildren in New Zealand in October and then at Christmas in South Africa.
Following a remarkable summer – which could yet include a victory in the Ashes, which begins in two weeks – Stokes is runaway favourite to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year, but there is no chance of his head being turned.
‘‘If he can’t play, he is disappointed,’’ Ged says. ‘‘He’s the kid that has his whites on and is gutted when it rains on a Saturday morning. It’s fantastic to see him enjoy and love the game so much.’’