Stokes is the star for making England brilliant and breathless

Hosts audacious to the end and seal series in fashion which fits their leader’s no-fear attitude

IT SAID everything about England’s dynamic new approach to the oldest form of the game that Ollie Pope tried to reverse ramp Marco Jansen for six to win the final Test and this series.

Instead of making contact the ball hit his wrist and then helmet but the broad grin on Ben Stokes’ face on the balcony was all that was needed to give approval to Pope’s audacity.

Even now not everybody gets it — in the Sky commentary box Shaun Pollock was heard to lament ‘can’t they just be orthodox with six runs left’ — but what England have done this summer has been transformative, breathless and quite brilliant.

Yes, there will be times when they stubbornly insist on doing it their way when all logic points to the conventional, like their manic pursuit of quick runs in the first innings here when they could have sensibly batted Southouth Africa out of the game.

But the restorative effectect at a time when the red ball game is under threat likeke never before cannot bee over-estimated and bothh

Stokes and Brendon McCullum deserve immense credit for bucking the franchise trend and throwing their heart and soul intoo Test cricket.

Six wins in seven Testssts this summer, all againstnst top-quality opposition inn New Zealand, India and Southh Africa, is transformation enoughgh after that run of one victory in 17 Tests that saw England reach their nadir with defeat in the Caribbean.

But the way they have done it, rewriting the Test playbook as they went, has been extraordinary, albeit with the last instalment of the summer played at such a frantic speed that it was effectively white-ball cricket in white clothing.

It should be said South Africa’s batting has been quite dreadful. They betrayed their negative mindset going into this match when they refused the ECB’s attempts to add an extra day after the first had been lost to rain and the second called off following the Queen’s passing.

Then their fallibility showed why that extra day was never going to be needed anyway. How appropriate Stokes was named England’s player of the series.

What a leader he has shown himself to be, both by example and manmanagement, and how refreshing it is that England’s key player should turn his back on the IPL and the Hundred, and even 50-over cricket, to prioritise Tests.

Stokes was a little tetchy when asked by Mark Butcher during the presentation after England’s nine-wicket win if he was selling himself a little short by batting too aggressively. Clearly he will carry on doing it his way, setting the selfless tone, and he has earned the right to do so both with his results and his Herculean efforts with bat and ball.

It was apprappropriate, too, that Ollie RobinsonRobinso should be player of the matchm here after taking 12 wicketsw at 15 in his two TestsTes since returning to theth side.

It was the sight of Robinson, backing away and being bowled in Hobart, that became the image of England’s Ashes surrender at the startst of this year after he had been publicly shamedsha for his poor fitnessfitne levels. How far both he and England have come. Not sincesinc Michael Vaughan’s team won all seven Tests in 2004 have England had a summer like this. Vaughan went on to lift the Ashes the following year in the most fabled triumph of them all and next year’s series is suddenly a much more enticing prospect.

Can England beat Australia this way? Why not? It will be harder against their attack but they have done it against just as potent a South African one.

Backing their players and taking away fear of failure is at the heart of England’s approach and how delighted they will be that Zak Crawley came good at last after he was backed like few players have ever been through a dismal run.

Crawley’s unbeaten 69, off 57 balls, ending with a square drive for his 12th four to win the match after

25 minutes of the final day, was why England have been reluctant to discard him.

He will go to Pakistan for England’s next Test assignment in December but whether he bats alongside Alex Lees, who rode his luck here before falling lbw to Kagiso Rabada, remains to be seen.

Ben Duckett, added to this squad as cover when Jonny Bairstow was injured, is an opening alternative to Lees while Keaton Jennings and Dan Lawrence could provide batting depth.

England also have a tough decision to make on a second spinner because it is by no means certain Moeen Ali will come out of Test retirement after all to back up Jack Leach. There are also doubts over whether Matt Parkinson is good enough at the highest level.

One thing that can be guaranteed is England will not repeat their mistake of the Caribbean in leaving both Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad out. Broad may be missing from Pakistan because his first child is due, but he will be back in New Zealand next year, while Anderson looks like he can go on for ever.

Perhaps the biggest compliment to Stokes is that both have fully bought into his methods and are playing with the enthusiasm of teenagers.

Alastair Cook and Joe Root had times when they found the big two difficult to manage on the field and their absence in the West Indies did have something to do with their personalities being a bit big for the captain to handle.

But Stokes has made a mockery of that. Just as he has made a mockery of those who feared the captaincy might break him. It has been the making of him — and his methods have been the making of the new England.