Stone-man the
Englishman stoking the Canterbury fire
Sorely missed by England in the Ashes series, Ben Stokes’ competitive streak, leadership and cricket nous is proving a boon in Christchurch.
Stokes’ arrival at Canterbury three weeks ago was met with feverish interest and plenty of condemnation. Many questioned the merits of hastily signing the allrounder, who continues to sweat on a verdict from UK prosecutors regarding his role in a Bristol brawl in which another man suffered a fractured eye socket.
Canterbury coach Gary Stead, who remains unsure how much longer Stokes will be based in his country of birth, has been impressed with the conduct and cricket skills of England’s vicecaptain but also the impact he has had on young teammates.
“He’s brought that knowledge and experience of being in some important matches and just been a bit of a calming influence out in the middle,” Stead said yesterday.
“You can tell he loves being in a battle on the field . . . that competitive approach will hopefully rub off on some of our players.
“He doesn’t over-speak or anything but when he talks, people listen. He is not shy of chiming in when we are discussing tactics . . . he has got a very good cricket brain. “He’s started to develop some friendships with some of our guys as well. It’s been really positive.” Uncertainty surrounds Stokes’ potential return date for England. The 26-year-old was provisionally named in the tourists’ ODI squad for the series that follows the Ashes, starting January 14 in Melbourne.
However, England’s cricket board won’t settle on Stokes’ punishment until UK prosecutors decide whether to charge him.
“We still don’t know a date when he will leave,” Stead said. “I’m sure he was looking at it [the Ashes]. I know he’ll be disappointed for England.”
Stead has handed Stokes extra responsibility, asking him to open the bowling and bat at No 4.
The game-breaking allrounder, who was sold for A$2.8 million in last year’s Indian Premier League auction, struggled early on in his New Zealand stint but struck form with a matchwinning 93 in the T20 contest during last week.
“He’s had five matches for us now . . . it looks like he’s getting better and better,” Stead said.
“He’s batting a little bit higher than he normally would, but we can grow his experiences and that’s good for him in the long run.
“Batting, bowling, fielding — and even at training — he’s going full tilt. He’s not holding back at all.” In the five years since England last had a productive opening pair, it always used to be a question of finding the right partner for Alastair Cook. More and more it looks as though England will have to find a partner for Mark Stoneman, who, aside from the glory tour of 2010-11, has been England’s most successful opening batsman in Australia since Michael Vaughan in 2002-03.
Confronting a new Kookaburra wielded by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood, Stoneman has scored more runs than anyone bar the middle order men Dawid Malan and Jonny Bairstow. Even if his average is only 32, it is higher than that of Cook in three of his four Ashes series in Australia, or Michael Carberry in 2013-14, or Andrew Strauss in 2006-07.
Yet Australia’s pace attack, and Perth’s bounce, have surpassed anything in his experience. “I’ve not faced an attack before where they have three guys capable of cranking it up to the levels they do,” Stoneman said.
“I think that’s one of the things they’ve been able to manage throughout the series — they’ve always had a guy coming in relatively fresh. The bounce was a lot steeper than I’ve ever experienced. There were balls that I was picking up the length fine but I was perceiving the level of contact to be chest height, which I would happily get in behind and ride, but they just kept climbing and I ended up splicing them in front of my face.”
As an opener who has hung around, Stoneman has been hit more than most of the England players, while the Australians have been almost unscathed.
“You’ve three quicks coming in, you get one wrong and you wear it,” Stoneman said. “Crack on. I was under no illusions what was going to be happening before I came on the tour and it’s pretty much lived up to expectations. Bit of short stuff, then they try to nick you off or hit the stumps or lbw.
“It’s one of the perks of the job of being an opener. It gets your beans going a bit and you certainly know