Superman strikes again
Stokes is man for the big occasion to seal famous England win
There were those who felt Ben Stokes was not a big enough hitter for this england Twenty20 World Cup side, even though he spent the summer effectively turning the Test team into a turbocharged white-ball outfit.
It is certainly not without irony that Stokes should spend the red-ball season dancing down the wicket and trying to hit Test bowling out of the park while adopting an old-fashioned anchor role in a Twenty20 side full of expansive big hitters at this World Cup.
‘If he batted like that in the Test side he would drop himself,’ joked captain Jos Buttler after Stokes had led england to another World Cup triumph yesterday with an unbeaten 52 off 49 balls, as they overcame Pakistan’s 137 for eight with an over to spare.
Yet if Stokes has had a rather contrary approach to england red and white-ball cricket this year, then one fact remains indisputable — when the chips are down, when england need a hero, then their very own Superman is always around to come to the rescue.
No wonder Buttler, coach Matthew Mott and anyone else within earshot were adamant whenever anyone questioned Stokes’s role in this side.
Of course they wanted him here. Of course they wanted him in the team, even if he batted in a retro white-ball way that belied his long absence from T20 international cricket.
england were hugely grateful to Stokes for getting them over the line in their final group match against Sri Lanka in Sydney, by playing the situation when all around him kept on trying to clear the ropes.
And how grateful they were yesterday when Pakistan’s cornered tigers looked like they just might emulate Imran Khan’s 1992 side in beating england against all the odds in a World Cup final in Melbourne.
Stokes changed all that. he stood firm as the best bowling side in this tournament threw everything at the best batting line-up in Australia. how potent the likes of haris rauf and Naseem Shah were on a used Melbourne pitch that had plenty of swing, seam and bounce as Pakistan fought tooth-and-nail to defend a below-par total.
But just as Stokes was the main man behind england’s fabled 50- over World Cup victory in 2019, and just as he was the main man in the miracle of headingley in the Ashes series that followed, he was the main man yet again here.
he played the situation to perfection, rode his luck when Naseem repeatedly beat the bat, and hit the winning run at the end to the joy of an england side who have united the 50-over and T20 world titles and can now lay claim to be among the greatest white-ball sides to have played the game.
It should be said england did have a sizeable slice of luck.
Who knows what would have happened had Pakistan spearhead Shaheen Shah Afridi been fit enough to bowl his last two overs at a time when england still needed 41 off 30 balls and nerves were jangling?
But after bowling one ball of the 16th over, Shaheen had to go off, having aggravated the knee injury that almost kept him out of this World Cup in catching harry Brook on the boundary.
It was, in getting out, the biggest contribution Brook has made to this World Cup.
Stokes and Moeen Ali seized their moment, hitting replacement Iftikhar Ahmed for 13 runs off the remaining five balls of the over and gaining the momentum that was to carry them home, even though Moeen was bowled by Mohammad Wasim with the winning line in sight.
What a triumph this is for captain Buttler, who has truly established himself now, after taking over from a legendary predecessor in eoin Morgan.
And what a performance this was not only from Stokes but from the bowlers, who restricted Pakistan to an average score. Adil rashid has been sensational in england’s last three must-win games, having made a relatively quiet start to this tournament.
And he took two for 22 here to complete figures of four for 58 in 12 overs in the last three games. Aged 34, he remains indispensable to this side.
even more important was Sam Curran, the player of the tournament after taking his wicket tally to 13 with three more victims here, and the remarkable figures of three for 12, while proving without doubt that he is a permanent young fixture going forward in a side full of 30-somethings.
It is feasible Curran would not have been in england’s first-choice team here had reece Topley not stepped on the boundary marker in a meaningless warm- up game at Brisbane and damaged ankle ligaments.
But how Curran has responded to his chance. he missed out on last year’s T20 World Cup through injury, but made up for it in spectacular style and will be the first bowler on the england teamsheet from now on.
england needed to prove they had enduring quality after their transformation from the dinosaurs of 2015 to the dynamic white-ball side of today, before their main players got too old to add to that 2019 victory.
It was a triumph for Buttler’s captaincy and how lovely it was to see the players’ families celebrating with them on the Melbourne outfield afterwards.
It is a second world title since 2015 to stop england being considered the nearly men of white-ball cricket, one that came on enemy soil at the cathedral of Australian cricket — the MCG.
Now Buttler can move on with his new whiteball era having well and truly kicked it into gear. Thanks in no small measure to the extraordinary figure of main man Stokes.