‘Rocky’ Stoneman shows England’s fighting spirit
Geoffrey Boycott ascribed to Stoneman during his eventful innings of 56, which packed enough into one sunny day to fill a chapter in his memoirs.
Stoneman has faced 92 bouncers in this series at an average pace of 89mph. He has been hit on the helmet once, his body four times and his gloves on six occasions.
One writer here compared stepping into the Waca in its golden age with parting the doors of a Wild West saloon. This is how it felt, in bursts, when Australia’s fearsome trio found the control and venom to go with their early bounce. In the last Test to be played in this pretty, breeze-cooled colosseum, Stoneman’s very name set him up to be the main target for a ferocious spell of bowling after lunch. ‘Rocky’, his nickname, could also be called nominative determinism, especially as Stoneman lacks Jonny Bairstow’s talent for swaying out of the way of bouncers, and instead uses his body the way riot police use their shields. If heedless courage were Stoneman’s only virtue, he would belong in that club of bruised eccentrics who sacrifice their bodies for the greater good.
But he brought other skills. Stoneman arrived with the kind of positive intent England needed on a field where anything that beat the close-in fielders went for four. He scored quickly, and well, before losing his partner, Alastair Cook, and settling down to work with James Vince, who is easily bored by being sensible, and wafted away yet another good start.
By then Stoneman was already on his second bat of the day. With his first, the handle had been turned into a stick of rhubarb by a ball from Starc.
‘Rocky’ was hardly purring in the face of the short ball. Australia’s pace bowlers had him jumping. But there was a vital message in his determination to stay where he stood. Through Stoneman, England were announcing their intention to play serious, tough, intelligent cricket, even if Vince was again out of earshot when that plan was relayed to the team.
Stoneman’s timeline from lunch until he was out, contentiously, on a decision review system referral, will stay burned in his memory.
It started during a superlative passage of bowling by Hazlewood, who found the edge of Stoneman’s bat but then saw the nick ricochet between Mitchell Marsh’s thumbs at first slip, and go to ground. England’s opener was to pay for his good luck. Stoneman dipped his head and turned away from a Hazlewood bumper and felt the side of his helmet grille go off in different directions. Time for a concussion test, a slow drink and a bit of empathy from his tormentors.
But only a bit. With his next ball, Hazlewood rammed one in a bit lower, and Stoneman fended it off with the shoulder of his bat, to the spot where Nathan Lyon was running in. This too slipped through outstretched hands. Stoneman was living a charmed life, even with bat and lid broken.