We’re on our way!
Root and England off to Champions Trophy flyer with eight wicket win over Bangladesh
Stokes show doesn’t disappoint! From dawn ‘til dusk with BenWatch
Peter Hayter discovers, unsurprisingly, that the nation’s eyes are drawm towards England’s brilliant all-rounder Ben Stokes
These days, in all formats and for whoever he is playing, Ben Stokes is always the player to watch. On the opening day of the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy, as the Most Valuable Player in this season’s IPL for Rising Pune Supergiant, fully justifying his £1.7m price tag, and the force of cricketing nature on whom England’s pre-tournament status as favourites depends, it seemed rude even to think about taking your eyes off him for a moment.
From almost the crack of dawn, when England’s brilliant all-rounder was put through a fitness test to see whether and how much his troublesome knee would allow him to bowl in the first match against Bangladesh, every ball he bowled, every time he touched the ball in the field – brilliantly on a couple of occasions – every look he looked, wince he winced or, in the event, word he “exchanged” with the Tigers’ century-maker Tamim Iqbal was the subject of the closest scrutiny.
Director of England Cricket Andrew Strauss had us primed and ready for Benwatch as early as breakfast time, when, with Stokes due for a run-out at the ground at 7.45am, he assured us on BBC Radio 4 that: “We won’t risk him unless we have to.”
“It went all right,” Stokes, pictured right, told his relieved supporters.“I bowled about 10 deliveries off my full run and there is no pain there as there was against South Africa.
“That doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to go and feel no pain but it’s a starting point and I’ve got a bit more confidence knowing that it’s not as sore as it was.
“I’d like to get through 10 overs but we’ll have to take it as it comes. I think the doctors know what the injury is but as soon as they start talking to each other they use all the technical terms and I switch off so I just sat there and nodded my head!”
It was Stokes who made the breakthrough too, when, after Chris Woakes left the field with a side strain, and probably the tournament, he came on to bowl the 11th over and, after having startcalled ed his spell with a tentative wide, made full use of the extra ball by tempting the wellset Soumya Sarkar to slap a terrible long-hop to sub fielder Jonny Bairstow on the point boundary. Cue a tight close-up of his sheepish grin. While his next appearance on centre stage was less edifying, it did confirm that, for now at least, Stokes remains more than comfortable standing in the spotlight.
His “history” with Tamim is well known; their spat at the end of the second ODI last October, when he confronted his opponent after the Bangladesh batsman appeared to drop the shoulder on Bairstow at the postmatch handshake, became known as the Fracas in Dhaka.
This one seemed to come from nowhere, but though the umpires deemed it necessary to intervene after the two squared up on the pitch, the steam evaporated as quickly as it had arrived. Indeed, such is his global popularity that even when Stokes then waved at the crowd behind his fielding position to encourage them to raise the roof, the gesture seemed to enthuse the large Bangladeshi contingent in the full house just as much as the home supporters.
But there is always a price to pay for such attention and when, in the penultimate over of their innings of 305-6, Stokes settled himself to take the catch to dismiss Shakib Al Hasan on the boundary off Jake Ball, and for a horrible moment it looked as if his box office status might actually put him in physical danger. In the moments prior to the delivery in question being bowled, Stokes was the target of “spider-cam”, the ingenious CIA cast-off snooping device now familiar to crowds almost everywhere else but only used here when the eyes of the world are on a global ICC event. Just in the nick of time, it flew out of his and harm’s way, but Stokes made the point eloquently when, after pouching the ball and rolling it back to the umpires, he looked skywards and waved a finger at the surveillance equipment in admonishment. It is impossible to tell what Stokes really makes of all this, though he did give us a clue as to what happens when things don’t go according to plan at the end of the World T20 against West Indies last April. For now, though, those England watchers more accustomed to their players shying from the big occasion than rising to it are happy he appears to relish every minute. All well and good, I hear you say. But what of the other burning issue? And by that you mean the opening ceremony and associated entertainment. Well, veteran watchers of global ICC tournaments staged here have seen far worse. The start of the “carnival of cricket” known as the 1999 World Cup still ranks as the worst of its type ever seen at a major international sporting event, or rather, not seen, as the clouds of smoke billowing round Lord’s from a firework display which much have set the organisers back at least a fiver, obscured the view of those in the ground who had not already been driven undercover by the rain. that:“A quite pathetic opening ceremony,” and the mould on top of the cake would have been a speech from Prime Minister Tony Blair welcoming the people of many nations, if only his microphone had been working.
In any case, it set the tone nicely for an inept performance by the home nation which culminated in their exit from their own tournament before the launch of its official song, a suitably bizarre take on One
Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest from Dave Stewart of Eurythmics.
The unholy mess that got the 2009 World T20 going ran that a close second, with singer Alesha Dixon’s set being canned due to rain and another packed house at Headquarters having to settle instead for mumbled speeches from such star turns as ECB chairman David Morgan and HRH Duke of Kent prior to the release of the kind of wobbly inflatables that last about 30 seconds on a British beach before disappearing far out to sea on a light breeze... swiftly followed, in this case, by England’s hopes, dashed by defeat in the opening match to the mighty Netherlands.
Wisely, perhaps, those in charge here decided that, on the fireworks front at least, there was no point in trying to compete with perfection and invested in a more modest display, if display is the correct term. And that allowed us to concentrate our full pre-match attention on a trio of drummers dressed as Beefeaters, from The Tower of London, in Merrie England. Brilliant, though, if they were going down that particular route, my personal preference would have been a Dick van Dyke song and dance tribute act giving us:“It’s a jolly ’oliday with May-ree..” Actually, come to think of it, for England there is only one show in town right now and, as long as his knee stands up, this one will run and run.
The doctors know what the injury is, but they use all the technical terms and I switch off. I just sat there and nodded my head!