THE GOLDEN GOODBYE?
Irresistible Stokes wins it for England, but today he’ll be in court with future on the line
It WAS perhaps the first sign that the dark clouds hovering over Ben Stokes ever since that infamous night in a Bristol nightclub last September had indeed impacted on England’s most influential cricketer.
there at Edgbaston in his moment of triumph on Saturday was a man who appeared deep in thought as he gazed into the distance, emotion etched on his face and almost lost for words as he was interviewed by Sky’s Ian Ward.
He muttered about shutting a few people up, as the fierce competitor inside him always does when he feels that either he or his team have been slighted by the outside world and have proved their perceived critics wrong.
this was Stokes at his best, an irresistible force ripping out Virat Kohli just when the India captain again looked to be winning a tumultuous test for his side and then when he had the final word in dismissing Hardik Pandya. there had been an animated and passionate celebration when Kohli went and words with both Pandya and Ishant Sharma in the heat of the battle as England closed in on a priceless first test victory for his close friend Joe Root.
It was as if nothing could trouble the indefatigable Stokes, who England and those close to him insist has been his normal self throughout an ordeal that would have been a heavy weight on the shoulders of many lesser mortals.
Yet maybe, just maybe, Stokes was wondering as he left the gladiatorial Edgbaston arena when next he will be able to pull on his England shirt and do what he loves doing more than anything — giving his all for his country.
today Stokes will be at Bristol Crown Court where, along with two other men, he will plead not guilty to charges of affray and fight to clear his name while his team-mates prepare to face India again in thursday’s second test at Lord’s.
And then, as soon as his week in court is done, Stokes will face an ECB cricket disciplinary commission along with Alex Hales that can inflict punishment whether or not a jury of 12 men and women decide he has a criminal case to answer.
Ever since, in the words of Alastair Cook, England’s ‘world was changed for ever’ by the events outside that student club in Bristol after they had defeated West Indies, the Stokes situation has been the elephant in their room.
Certainly England’s talisman and former vice-captain has not been at his best ever since he was suspended for the Ashes and then began his rehabilitation after being controversially allowed to play again while awaiting his court case.
there have been injuries and below- par performances, with Stokes seemingly drifting and unable to drag himself away from the team environment even when niggling fitness problems have left him on the sidelines.
throughout it all he has retained the support of England coach trevor Bayliss, who adores him, and captain Joe Root who, we know now, pushed in vain for his return in time for at least the last instalments of England’s doomed Ashes quest.
this was perhaps payback time for Stokes as he inspired a thrilling victory that may well represent the first green shoots of recovery for an England test team who went winless all winter in Australia and New Zealand and then drew with Pakistan earlier this summer.
‘He’s been no different from how he’s been before,’ said Bayliss of Stokes as he contemplated life again without his favourite England player. ‘You wouldn’t have known there was anything coming up. He’s been absolutely golden.
‘Obviously this is something that we would have preferred not to be happening, just like in Australia. But in Australia the boys just got on with it without Ben and I’ve no concerns about them being distracted this week.
‘there was a bit of chat about being without Ben at Lord’s before the series but once we got out there it was about playing the best we possibly could with the guys we’ve got and the same will apply in the second test.’
It says everything about the status of Stokes that England did not even contemplate leaving him out at Edgbaston even though the first test would have finished on the eve of his appearance in Bristol had it gone the distance. Both
Bayliss and Root looked astonished when asked after the last one-day international at Headingley about the Stokes situation — amazed the question had even been posed. Of course Stokes would play in the first Test. Why wouldn’t he?
How Stokes justified that faith with his bowling in Birmingham in both innings and how England will miss him now they are again disrupted by his absence and have to balance their side without, in effect, two players.
That is what Stokes brings to England and that is why he will be welcomed back as soon as he is available again, whatever is in store for him in Bristol and however long he is absent. To them, he remains irreplaceable.