HAVING A BALL
Super Stokes hits Windies for six in bowling masterclass but now he must repeat his heroics with the bat after collapse
BEN STOKES will need to produce the same sort of magic with the bat as he did with the ball if England are to avoid a low-scoring dogfight for the Wisden Trophy.
Stokes was the star of the show thanks to a career-best 6-22 at Lord’s, so becoming the sixth England player to make it on to the honours board for both bat and ball.
It was Stokes’ ability to swing deliveries in and out to a succession of hapless batsmen that meant the West Indies were skittled for 123 within 58 overs – despite winning the toss and electing to bat.
But it is with the bat that 26-year-old Stokes must shine brightest on day two after England slipped into the same hole as their opponents, limping to 46-4 at the close.
Kemar Roach removed both openers to edges caught behind before skipper Jason Holder got the ball to move enough to trap Tom Westley lbw and tease an edge from Joe Root.
It means that Stokes and Dawid Malan will have their work cut out to repel a confident Windies attack.
But England’s premier allrounder reckons they will still look to be positive this morning. Stokes said: “Me and Mala are obviously going to try to dig in but we have to be on it when any bad balls come our way. “If they bowl good balls and good spells then we need to have the mental concentration to get through that. “I was trying to play in the same manner that I have done over the summer, still trying to be positive so that if anything comes along then I’ve got to put it away because they won’t come along that often. “Hopefully we can take that positive mindset into day two, but the pitch is offering something for the bowlers.” And Stokes should know that more than most as he stole James Anderson’s thunder in an uninterrupted 15-over spell of vintage swing bowling. After capturing the first two wickets to move to 499 Test scalps, everyone was waiting for the history England
making 500th – but it never came despite Anderson beating the bat for fun.
Instead the recalled Toby Roland-Jones snaffled two and Stokes the remaining six – including Shannon Gabriel (left) – as the West Indies collapsed.
Stokes waved an acknowledgement to departing bowling coach Ottis Gibson on the balcony, then revealed that they had put in hours behind the scenes to get his bowling mojo back.
“I’ve been working with Ottis on my jump into the crease,” said Stokes.
“My front foot was very tight to the stumps, so we’ve been working on alignment and seam position and slowly it has got better and better.
“I’ve got no idea how Jimmy didn’t get another wicket.
“He’s got another crack at the big 500, I’m sure he will and hopefully I can be on the pitch when he gets it.”