Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
BEN THERE...
‘Absolute freak’ Stokes delivers marathon spell and two breakthrough wickets in seven balls as dominant England level series
BEN STOKES tried to turn all the attention on to his team-mates after producing yet another superhuman effort to lead England to victory.
He was both the architect and the heart and soul of this win by an innings and 85 runs – with the peerless James Anderson and Ollie Robinson polishing things off at the end.
The England skipper highlighted both newball bowlers, as well as Zak Crawley and Ben Foakes for their efforts, but his selfdeprecation cannot alter the fact that this was another extraordinary display by an extraordinary player.
Stokes said: “I think Foakesy should be up here collecting the player of the match award. Seven dismissals as a keeper, and how tidy he was, it was an amazing game from him, which he should never forget. “Ollie fully deserved the call back into the squad. He’s come back and showed the hard work he’s put in over the last six months has paid off, he is a quality bowler and showed what we can get from him. “Zak too, he applied himself incredibly. It was a new-ball wicket and he coped well with that and the reverse swing.”
But Anderson knew where the praise should be focused, Stokes, and said: “He’s just an absolute freak. He does that day in day out, and he’s just got a hundred as well yesterday.
“He batted for however long and then to be able to do put in that sort of spell and get the wickets that he did was incredible.
“That was key, being able t o break them open before the new ball. He’s an absolute machine and he leads by example.”
Stokes gave a performance of all-round brilliance, capped off with the player of the match gong. With 13 overs left before the second new ball, he made the call to keep Anderson and Robinson fresh and just got on with the job of holding up an end until then. When it took just two balls for Anderson to strike, the roar of the crowd was deafening, as befits the record 950th international wicket for a pace bowler.
In the huddle following Anderson’s breakthrough Stokes gave him a giant hug as if to say ‘thank you’, but the sentiment would have been flowing just as strongly the other way.
“I knew how important that second new ball was,” said Stokes.
Another one-sided game – albeit with a different result – sets up the finale at The Oval perfectly, although the South Africans will be without Van der Dussen, who has been ruled out with a broken finger.