Slow start, fast finish: All-rounder’s extraordinary innings
Ben Stokes hates the word “redemption”. After this performance, he should never have to hear it again, for Stokes should now be known only for his incredible cricketing feats.
Forget Bristol. Forget court cases and grainy CCTV images. Just glory in the fact England have a cricketer of such ferocious talent and mental fortitude. Stokes just knows how to win, how to deliver under the utmost pressure and scrutiny in both oneday and test cricket.
His final numbers when he retires may not match others. Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff were better bowlers but no other all-rounder has delivered two match-winning displays in games of such high importance before.
Stokes led England to their first World Cup with the most nerveless batting when the game was lost in the final and he did it again at Headingley, saving the Ashes against one of the best Australian attacks to tour this country.
The day after the World Cup final, Stokes was told he was now a national hero and his life had changed.
“Whatever, I’m not bothered. I’ve got this medal around my neck, so it’s all good,” he said.
The material trappings of winning and fame really mean nothing to Stokes, who was given a £15,000 watch by the sponsors for being man of the match in the final and left it in the dressing room.
At Headingley, he completely ignored the loud ovation for his fifty. While his hundred was greeted with big cheers, he simply put his head down and marked his guard. It must be the first time a player has not celebrated a test century, not even a flicker. It was not rudeness, just that personal milestones were irrelevant. A test match was there to be won.
The release came at the moment of victory. A cut for four through the covers brought a guttural roar and one-handed punch of the air.
“Unbelievable, unbelievable,” he said as his teammates surrounded him on the pitch a few moments later. He even forgot to grab a stump as a souvenir. Luckily a television technician saved one for him.
While many of England’s World Cup winners have looked frazzled and struggled to cope with the Ashes heat, Stokes has revelled in the challenge of facing Australia, knowing his team were beaten up 4-0 the last time they played when he could not travel because of his Bristol arrest.
The World Cup final went a long way to paying that debt but test cricket is something else. Was there enough left in the tank for five Ashes tests? At Lord’s last week, he scored his first test hundred for two years and has been named man of the match in consecutive tests.
He played an awful shot as England were routed for 67 in 27.5 overs. He knew he had let his team down. That is when he is at his most dangerous. He bowled an unbroken spell of 26 overs in the Australia second innings, split across two days, dragging them back in the game with three for 56. He then batted 52 more balls in his century than England managed in their entire first innings.
But it was the control and mastery of the chase that will be forever remembered. The phases of his innings show his utter application for staying in the present and focusing on taking his team over the line.
He was one off 39 balls, two off 50 overnight. He was seven off 80 as he blocked the threat of the second new ball. It took him 83 balls to reach double figures, the slowest since Ian Salisbury for England in Calcutta 26 years ago. One of the world’s biggest T20 hitters and the most highly paid overseas player in the Indian Premier League was dealing in dot balls.
This was Stokes’ slowest test fifty, off 152 balls, but when the charge for victory started at Headingley with last man Jack Leach, Australia were railroaded by the T20 Stokes. Of his 76-run stand with Leach, Stokes scored 74 off 45 balls with four fours and seven sixes, one an incredible switch hit into the Western Terrace. He smashed 103 of the 124 runs England made in the final session.
His performance was so glorious that he could get away with saying on that esteemed institution, Test Match Special, that Leach had “serious bollocks”. But it is Stokes who has the inner steel and the others follow his lead.
This year, he has played with great application, toughing it out against Nathan Lyon ripping the ball past his outside edge on Saturday night and yesterday before lunch.
This calendar year, he is averaging 57 in test cricket but his strike rate of 54.43 is far lower than in his previous good years of 2015 and 2016. It is a sign of a maturing player capable of building innings and picking the time to attack.
“I was in the zone, I knew what I needed to do,” he said at the end.
There is more to come. The Stokes Summer of 2019 story has more twists in store.