Blossoming Ben stokes England’s fire
IT IS no surprise that an allrounder was in at the birth of England’s regeneration – that miraculous process which began on May 21, 2015, at almost precisely midday.
An all-rounder has a liberty denied to specialist batsmen: if he fails with the bat, he can make it up with the ball. When West Indies were world champions in the 1980s, and Australia from the mid-1990s, they had no all-rounder except a wicketkeeper/batsman, but England’s best test teams have always had one.
Ben Stokes walked out at 30 for four after 12.2 overs of the first test against New Zealand at Lord’s. He was following in the footsteps of Tony Greig, England’s all-rounder when they were world champions in the early 1970s, and Ian Botham, who lorded it over Australia in the 1980s, and Andrew Flintoff, who did the same in 2005.
Stokes, however, had not been treated like his three eminent predecessors.
In the test side he had batted down at No 7 or No 8 under the previous regime of Peter Moores, while in one-day cricket he was not even on the plane to the World Cup, which goes down as one of history’s howlers.
Stokes joined Joe Root in the middle and together they ignited the new era. At this crisis point against New Zealand, in the 14th and 15th overs – after England had been sent in – they hit a boundary each, failed to score off only three balls, and added 17 runs without a high-risk shot.
Watching on the home balcony was England’s stand-in coach Paul Farbrace. ‘‘Against New Zealand I don’t think we set out to be an ultra-attacking team. It just happened by chance at 30-4 on that first day at Lord’s – that Root plays one way, gets his singles and scores boundaries, and Stokes came in and whacked it.’’
Root and Stokes turned the game on its head, hitting 161 at more than five runs an over, an them to have a positive mindset, because then you are in the best position to play whatever ball is delivered to you – in the best position to leave, defend or hit it.’’
Stokes had also been going backwards as a bowler. It is in the nature of the four-man pace attack that someone is usually missing out: a decade ago, under Michael Vaughan, it was Simon Jones who felt under-bowled in South Africa, then Matthew Hoggard was limited to the new ball in 2005. Stokes is too pugnacious to be ignored.
‘‘An interesting relationship has developed between [Alastair Cook] and Stokes,’’ Farbrace observed. ‘‘Over the last 18 months or so, Stokes has wanted to bowl more and maybe Cooky hasn’t always trusted him to bowl, so he has had short spells.
‘‘Stokes knows he has short spells so he has been trying to impress with inswingers, bouncers, yorkers, whatever.
‘‘What we are now seeing is that Stokes has had a couple of good spells and has been thrown the ball a bit more. So he is getting confidence from Cooky, Cooky is getting confidence in Stokesy, and now he is bowling spells like he did on Friday – a long spell which was needed for the team.’’
It might be shrewd selecting to bring in Liam Plunkett after his fiery spell to demolish Durham at Scarborough, but England’s batting line-up is unlikely to change for the fifth test at the Oval.
Thereafter a second spinner will have to be accommodated when playing Pakistan away.
To make space for this second spinner, as England continue their evolution on slow turning pitches abroad, the third seamer could be dropped. Or Moeen Ali could replace Adam Lyth as Cook’s opening partner.
Or else Jonny Bairstow could be dropped and, instead of Gary Ballance being recalled, Stokes promoted from six to five. Naive against spin? He averages twice as much against it as against pace. Blessed with such an all-rounder, England have so many options.