Stokes now Mr Dependable
World player of the year has overcome obstacles to become England’s most complete batsman
Ben Stokes has joined an exclusive club, becoming just the second English player after Jonathan Trott to be named the International Cricket Council’s world player of the year.
At first glance, the pair have little in common as players. Trott was a crease occupier, the No 3 who could be trusted to consistently give England’s top-order heft and reliability as they rose to the top of the test rankings in 2011.
Stokes is the all-action all-rounder: a hero with bat and ball, and a brilliant fielder. But beyond the feats of the past 12 months in the World Cup and at Headingley, Stokes has emulated Trott by becoming England’s most dependable batsman. His average since the start of 2019 is 47, 10 more than Joe Root and 12 ahead of Rory Burns, the next-best to have played more than four tests.
Stokes has always been technically sound. Good on front or back foot, driving or hooking and pulling, he can play every shot in the manual plus be unorthodox when necessary. His innings at Headingley combined the savage with the sublime. The switch hit for six off Nathan Lyon followed steady accumulation and robust defence early in his innings when the team were in trouble. Stokes, aged 28, can now build an innings and that is the crucial difference to how he was at 24. The Headingley century and dragging his team through the World Cup final have imbued him with a sense of invincibility. Stokes, in his own mind, is simply never beaten. Sports psychologists call it being in the “flow state”, which is essentially a calmness and ability to block out the external pressure.
Yet Stokes is no machine. This is not an ice-cool sportsman, such as Tiger Woods or Rafael Nadal. Stokes’ emotions are never far from the surface. Both in the World Cup final and at Headingley, he was often on his haunches between deliveries, living every agony as the pressure mounted. It is why he is so popular. It makes him appear normal. But, crucially, he was able to clear his mind.
The fact Stokes works harder than anyone else in the side, setting a great example in training, is referenced by all who play with him, whether for England or in the Indian Premier League. The results are evident now in his batting. Once weak against spin, Stokes has overcome the challenges by working hard with better players of spin. After a poor year of test cricket for England in 2019, it was
The fact Stokes works harder than anyone else in the side, setting a great example in training, is referenced by all who play with him.
no surprise that he was the one player from the side who made the ICC’s test team of the year.
Since 2018, Stokes’ strike rate in test cricket has decreased, along with the percentage of boundaries he has scored. The number of runs he has scored with fours and sixes has dropped from 9.67 per cent in 2016 to 6.86 per cent last year. This has been combined with an increase in runs scored and a higher average.
For test batting, however, perhaps more revealing is the fact that since 2016 he is rotating the strike better and leaving more balls. Stokes left 20 per cent of the deliveries he faced in 2019, double the number he let through in 2016. He is showing more patience by waiting for the bowlers to feed his strong scoring areas.
“I think more than anything, it’s his mental approach to the game,” Root said yesterday, when asked about Stokes’ improvement. “I think after he had a time out of the team, he’s grown as a senior player, as a mentor to the young guys within. That’s testament to his character and how much he cares about playing for England and how much he cares about the group that surround him. And his desire to want to get better all the time.”
Stokes has batted in every position from three to 11 for England and is still judged to be an option again at No 3. Joe Denly will be given a good run at the job now and Stokes has enough as the team’s all-rounder and vice-captain without having an extra burden of promotion to face the new ball. Five feels like his natural position rather than No 6.
Stokes values playing for England now so highly because he knows he almost lost it during his court troubles of 2017-18.
In South Africa, his motivation has been provided by his father, Ged, who remains ill in hospital in Johannesburg. Stokes paid tribute to his father after bowling England to victory in Cape Town by making a hand signal with the middle finger of his left hand bent. It was reference to Ged having the top of that same finger amputated to continue playing when he was a professional league player because he could not afford the time off while it healed naturally. Stokes has inherited that single-minded determination to endure the pain to play.