Superhuman Stokes blows away cobwebs
IT WAS like he had never been away. When Ben Stokes stepped out to the crease in Chennai yesterday, he had not hit a red ball in almost six months.
But when you are superhuman like Stokes, your eye is never really out, as he proved by effortlessly hitting his old nemesis Ravi Ashwin into the stands with just his second scoring shot on his way to a brilliant 82.
How good it was to have Stokes back on our screens — and in full show on terrestrial television, where non-Sky subscribers will have last seen him helping England win the World Cup in 2019. He had not pulled on the whites since August when England beat Pakistan at Old Trafford.
Stokes left that series to be with his family in his native New Zealand after his father Ged was diagnosed with brain cancer. He then featured in the Indian Premier League in the autumn and in England’s T20 series in South Africa.
Yet having been rested for the Sri Lanka tour, the all-rounder had played no further cricket since his dad sadly died in December. He arrived in India without even a scheduled practice match to acclimatise to the subcontinent conditions.
Well, who needs warm-up games anyway? Certainly not England’s man for all seasons, who has long since mastered Indian pitches from his experience in the IPL.
‘After being around and understanding what is best for my game, I just made sure I felt good, I didn’t overkill,’ said Stokes about his preparations. ‘If I felt I was going all right, I came out of the nets.’
Stokes was not even fazed by coming up against Ashwin, a man who has dismissed him seven times in Tests — more than any other bowler. On his ninth delivery to the spinner, he simply plonked him over his head for a straight six, a shot which was little more than a follow through from a forward defensive.
Ashwin actually dropped Stokes with a sharp caught-and-bowled chance when he was on 31, just before Cheteshwar Pujara also put him down with an even tougher one off Shahbaz Nadeem.
Yet on the whole, Stokes was solid in defence and brutal in attack — striking back-to-back boundaries with reverse sweeps against Nadeem to race to his half century off 73 balls. Shades of those famous strokes against Nathan Lyon at Headingley in 2019.
Much like Australia captain Tim Paine in that match, India skipper Virat Kohli had no answer to Stokes when he started accelerating after a patient first hour, leading to him wasting reviews in desperation.
An 11th Test hundred — one Stokes would so dearly have loved coming so soon after his father’s passing — was there for the taking.
But while he blew his chance by putting another slog sweep off Nadeem down Pujara’s throat at deep backward square, Stokes could not be criticised.
‘After a couple of balls spat out of the rough at me, I took a decision to put the pressure back on to the bowler,’ he said. ‘I thought I might try and take a few runs with me before I got out. I’d rather get caught deep square in the way that I did, as opposed to going back into my shell and being a bit defensive and spooning one up to short leg.’
On Channel 4, Sir Alastair Cook said: ‘To play like that without any match practice at all, he looked totally at ease at the wicket. His method has improved so much against spin recently because he can defend the ball so well now.
‘When Ben gets out, he is the first one onto the computer, looking tactically and technically. He is a bit of a nerd on it but you can see development in his game.’
Stokes was the aggressor in his 124-run partnership with Joe Root. Before this game, Stokes presented Root with his 100th cap and made a speech which almost moved his childhood pal to tears.
As much as he will be thrilled with his own form, Root knows that a freescoring Stokes takes a bit of pressure off his own prolific run making.
And in a year which climaxes with an Ashes tour, the sight of Stokes strutting his stuff spells great news for England — and is ominous for the Aussies.