INSPIRATION STOKES HAS GIVEN CRICKET REAL JOLT
BEN STOKES could have just gone with the busted finger.
After an operation in April, his left index finger is still giving him trouble and the injury alone would have been a just cause to miss the Test series against India.
But, in sport, how many times has a physical complaint, imagined or otherwise, been used to mask a mental struggle?
More than we would all care to imagine, I would guess.
Now, that is changing.
And Stokes is the latest athlete to take an important step on behalf of all those people – not just sportsmen and women – who might face a struggle with their mental wellbeing.
Typically, Stokes has stood up to be counted.
His withdrawal has not just highlighted a hugely important and broad issue, it has given cricket’s various authorities a jolt, a reminder that the schedule for international cricketers is simply ridiculous.
Television paymasters are demanding, but it seems as though the game is on the go throughout the calendar.
And that has been particularly demanding during the pandemic when cricket – to keep us entertained through the misery of lockdown – has existed in a bubble.
It is hard to think of any other sport that keeps you away from your family for such extended periods.
If families are not allowed to join the squad in Australia for the Ashes, no one could blame any player for not wanting to tour.
Covid has reaffirmed the truism that there are more important things than sport in life.
But Stokes might have given you the impression that he does not share that idea. Through that incredible Ashes century at Headingley, through his World Cup heroics, Stokes has been seen as the ultimate, alpha male sportsman.
Let’s face it, if you were asked to make a list of sportsmen and women who you thought might struggle with mental demands, then Stokes would not be on it.
But by taking this break to be with his young family and protect his mental wellbeing, Stokes has underlined a simple fact – that no one is immune from this type of battle.
Not even – as Simone Biles highlighted in the Olympics’ first week – elite sportsmen and women.
But why does it matter that someone, such as Biles or Stokes, publicly admit their vulnerability and their struggle?
Why not just use the busted finger as cover?
Because Stokes, like so many of us, probably knows people who have not even admitted their mental struggle to themselves.
And, like so many of us, he has probably seen how terribly that can end.
Stokes will not think it is a brave thing to do.
He will not think it takes courage to admit you are struggling with the mental demands of your job and life.
And those who rail against calling this sort of admission brave and courageous might have a semblance of a point.
But the reason why it is brave, why it is courageous, is that, sadly, so few people in the public eye have felt able to do it in the past.
Maybe now they will.
Stokes has been an inspiration for a long time.
And, no matter how long he is away from a cricket pitch, he still will be.