Brave, bold and attacking...but it won’t always pay off for Ben
ICOULD understand why Ben Stokes — and stand-in New Zealand captain Tom Latham — both wanted to bowl first in this second Test. Look up and the overhead conditions suggested batting, but look down and the pitch had a green tinge to it — and Stokes would be aware Trent Bridge can get better and better for batting on the second and third days.
He wanted to take advantage of anything in the conditions on the first day, particularly with two of the great bowlers in home conditions in Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in his ranks and New Zealand weakened by the loss of their captain Kane Williamson.
This England side want to take the attacking option and this was the brave thing to do because when the sun comes out here, you can lose control in the field. As we saw in the first session, when there were 20 boundaries, it can be a high-scoring ground.
Stokes said before this Test that he wants his bowlers to always try to take wickets rather than worry about saving runs and that’s fine as long as the ball is doing something. But England’s problem before lunch was that it wasn’t swinging.
That’s why, in Test cricket, you can’t always have just one policy because it doesn’t take into account how the game ebbs and flows. You only have to look at the Lord’s Test when it was lowscoring in the first innings before the pitch got flatter to see that.
As a captain, you have to change your thinking along with the conditions and there was a case for sitting in before lunch yesterday and seeing if things changed as Trent Bridge is one of the great swinging grounds.
And, sure enough, suddenly the ball did start to move after 35 overs, as if somebody had flicked a switch, and Stokes himself started to bowl beautifully.
When the ball is moving the captain can be a real handful because he has a great wrist position and is technically very strong. It was no surprise he made the breakthrough, picked up a couple of wickets and could have had another but for Joe Root’s dropped catch.
Fair play to Broad, too, because he bought into what England were trying to do. Over the years we have seen various captains encouraging him to bowl fuller and there have been times, when the ball hasn’t been doing anything, that he’s been reluctant to do it.
Here he stuck to the plan after lunch but it did mean New Zealand got off to another flyer. It’s a fine balance.
Otherwise I felt Stokes did all he could. He handled Jack Leach well and realised Daryl Mitchell might give him a chance by coming at him. Hence he kept his mid-on and mid-off in — again the bold option — and invited him to chance his arm.
It will take time for Stokes. At Lord’s it was noticeable how England’s catching had improved, but yesterday they slipped back into old habits and there was a return of more no balls too.
It is good to take the positive option, but Stokes is a smart cookie and he will know there are times when he will need to do it a little differently.