Stokes toughs it out for England
Jonny Bairstow and Ben Stokes enjoyed their partnership yesterday.
The tourists were floundering on 62 for five and a lead of only 107 as Bangladesh’s spinners ran through the top order but Stokes kept his cool in stifling heat and on a pitch that is still offering vast amounts of turn.
He acknowledged later that his 85 from 151 balls was his mostmature innings – and it was hard to disagree as Stokes proved he can cut it on spin-friendly tracks.
Having earlier finished as the pick of the bowlers with four for 26, Stokes’ 127-run partnership with Jonny Bairstow (47) could go a long way to determining the outcome as England finished yesterday’s third day in the driving seat on 228 for eight and a lead of 273.
Stokes said: “That’s probably the toughest conditions I’ve had so far in international cricket, especially first going in with all the men around the bat and the ball spinning as much as it was.
“It was definitely my most mature performance with the bat. I didn’t want to give my wicket away and I wanted make sure if I was going to get out it was going to take a good ball.
“I tried to put the foot on the gas towards the end to try and get the lead up as high as we possibly could to give us a decent amount of time to bowl them out. But I’m happy with how it went.”
All of England’s players in the line-up have made first-class centuries and Stokes thinks that could prove crucial if they are to build a lead in excess of 300, with Chris Woakes and Stuart Broad the pair in and Gareth Batty still to come.
He said: “It would be nice to get a few more tomorrow, we’re lucky in that sense that we’ve got a really, really strong batting line-up. Broady and Woakesy are more than capable players so hopefully we can get up to 320.”
Stokes first came to the fore yesterday morning as his spell of four for 10, either side of the day two close, was the catalyst for Bangladesh’s collapse which handed the tourists a 45-run firstinnings advantage.
Stokes found some reverse swing to pin Mehedi Hasan lbw and bowl last man Kamrul Islam Rabbi – and the Durham allrounder revealed he has been working specifically on bringing the ball back in.
He said: “I’ve been working on reverse swing, obviously I’m not going to get the new ball.
“I’ve been practising and when you get it doing that much it’s always going to be tough and we were very critical about making sure we kept the ball in good nick.
“Joe Root has been non-stop keeping the smooth side smooth and shiny, and making sure the rough side is as dry as possible.”
Stokes and Bairstow are no strangers to batting together after sharing a record a 399-run worldrecord stand for the sixth wicket against South Africa earlier this year.