NASSER HUSSAIN: HOW STOKES CAN IMPROVE
HE MUST BE MORE RUTHLESS WITH THE BAT AND CUT OUT THAT FLICK TO THE LEG SIDE
No one has praised Ben Stokes more than me for the unbelievable things he has done on a cricket field over the past couple of years, but he could be even better by being ruthless with the bat — starting with today’s second Test.
True, Stokes’s value to the team is far higher than mere statistics, but with the technique and ability he has, he should average far more than 36 after 64 Tests. Ben could be tougher on himself. I don’t know if he gets bored and constantly wants to tinker, but I don’t know why he has introduced this little shot we saw at the Ageas Bowl where he shuffles across his off-stump. He is making up shots that he doesn’t need to play. I can understand Stokes manoeuvring the ball at Headingley last year when he had just Jack Leach for company, but when england are in the ascendancy and are at a pivotal moment in the game there is no need for him to be unorthodox or inventive. Stokes went outside off stump in the Cape Town Test against South Africa in the new year and got a leading edge. And twice in the first Test against West Indies, he again shuffled to off against the tourists’ captain Jason Holder and twice got out trying to play to leg. The second-innings dismissal came when england were getting on top. If they had got through to the close on the fourth day at the Ageas Bowl with Stokes and ollie Pope at the crease they would not have lost. Ben is a very smart thinker about cricket and does work things out while he is at the crease. He is one of england’s most technically correct batsmen, if not the most correct. But he does not need to make up shots and should have made Holder get him out rather than gifting him his wicket. That ruthlessness from Stokes and Joe Root, england’s two world- class batsmen, will be even more important in this second Test because they will be fielding one of their least experienced top threes of recent times — Rory Burns, Dom Sibley and Zak Crawley. one thing they need to do today, after naming a 13-man squad without Jimmy Anderson, is not get cute with selection again. Sometimes the current panel can overcomplicate it and get too smart but all it should be is picking your best 11 players.
I didn’t turn up to too many matches against West Indies to find Courtney Walsh or Curtly Ambrose left out. I have no hesitation in putting Anderson and Stuart Broad in the same company. After all, they do have almost 1,100 wickets between them.
Yes, if those two were past their best then move them on, but Anderson has produced some of the best numbers in his career over the last five years and Broad was england’s leading wicket-taker in the Ashes last year and in South Africa.
It is a unique situation this summer. Anderson is 38 at the end of this month and bowled 40 overs at the Ageas Bowl. With six Tests virtually back to back, england will need to rotate and I still believe they will pick Anderson in four of them.
I do see the bigger picture here, but the Wisden Trophy is on the line and growing up watching the great West Indies side being utterly ruthless with england, I would have liked to have seen Anderson lead the attack here today.
He is still england’s premier fast bowler and he does, after all, average 21 on his home ground.
I agree with Wood being left out and I expect Broad to play in his place. Wood is someone who has struggled to put a run of games together, so he could come back for the third Test.
And it is right that Joe Denly has made way for captain Joe Root (below) to come back. Denly has been a decent stop-gap but I don’t quite get the argument that he has set the game up for the middle order by taking up time. You should not be judged as a Test no 3 on batting 100 balls, but whether you have scored 100 runs. england were sloppy in the first Test. For some reason they have been slow starters to Test series for some time, but they have been more ruthless as the series have gone on.
They have learned from their mistakes in the recent past and shown there is character in this team. As long as they make big first-innings runs, there is no reason why they shouldn’t hit back again here.