STOKES IS BACK ... AND TEARING INTO THE BOWLING FOR FUN

IT took all of 16 balls for Ben Stokes to hit Test match top gear as if he’d never been away.

Ravichandran Ashwin, the taker of 379 Test wickets, tossed one up a little full just outside off stump, certainly worthy of a forward defensive in the early part of an innings.

And Stokes simply stretched out his forearms and bopped it back over his head for six.

The entertaining emptierof-bars – if anyone was allowed in the ground of course – was back.

The fact is that Stokes hadn’t played a red-ball match since August 2020.

And even though we all know how good a player he is, there was no guarantee that all of his movement, his decision-making and his timing would be as they were when he paused.

As it was for a lot of people, 2020 was a tough old year for Stokes, caring for his dad before he passed away in December.

But a cricket pitch remains one of the places where the England hero is most comfortable, most happy and most focused.

“It’s nice to come back in after a bit of time off and spend some time in the middle,” said Stokes.

“It’s been a couple of months away, so it feels good to be coming back into the side and still performing, but the most pleasing thing is starting the tour so well as a team, we couldn’t have asked for anything more.”

Stokes moved on from that first six and connected with two others plus 10 fours as he motored to 82 in brisk time. There were chances offered, but they were tough, such as a sharp caught and bowled back to Ashwin and a sweep that Cheteshwar Pujara almost held onto at midwicket diving to his left.

That is the nature of the way that Stokes plays the game.

He is always looking for the positive option, even if it comes with an element of risk.

He tucked into Shahbaz Nadeem with a series of slog-sweeps and reverse sweeps that hurried him past his 23rd Test fifty.

In the end he swept too hard and too high once too often, falling to a catch at deep square leg off Nadeem to bring his comeback innings to a close.

Stokes added: “It’s about taking risks at some points and that’s the great thing.

“Sometimes it comes off, sometimes it doesn’t.

“We didn’t just look to survive out there, we didn’t just eat into the overs and stay out there.

“We also looked to be positive in the way we scored.

“There’s been spin, bounce and reverse, we’ve just played really well. You’ve got to give us credit there, it’s not exactly been the easiest.”

Yet somehow Stokes does make it all look incredibly easy – and without even so much as a warm-up match behind him.