Stokes has a blast on his birthday
BEN STOKES’ first slice of birthday cake as Test captain turned him into England’s gateau blaster.
On the day he turned 31, Stokes threw off his superhero’s cape and unfurled a half-century decorated with brainstorms and brilliance in a Lord’s thriller.
If England take the chequered flag in the 1st LV= Insurance Test against New Zealand today, Stokes’ belligerent 54 will go down as the turning point.
Set 277 to win, the birthday boy marched to the crease with England in disarray at 69-4 – and batted like he wanted to have his cake and eat it.
He was a man with a flan. Closing on 216-5, they still need another 61 – but Joe Root is 77 not out after 4hr 20min of exemplary application, and Stokes’ predecessor has yet to play a false shot.
Stuart Broad, whose ‘hat-trick’ in the first session had begun England’s memorable fightback, said: “I think Ben is at his best when he has the game on the line.
“That’s always the sign of a world-class player and a worldclass character. He’s played some incredible knocks in the first innings of Test matches before, but he’s a situation player – it suits him when it’s laid out in front of him. We will need a positive mindset to finish the job, but the way Rooty and Stokesy played today showed how this team wants to go about it.”
If England can go 1-0 up, Stokes will feel like all his birthdays have come at once. Presented with a card signed by his team-mates before start of play, Big Ben had scored only one when he was castled by Colin de Grandhomme, slogging indiscriminately, and he was halfway back to the pavilion before he was reprieved by a marginal no-ball call.
But he deposited Ajaz Patel’s left-arm spin dismissively into the grandstand for three sixes, and just as Stokes was threatening to turn 142 minutes of mercurial defiance into matchwinning violence, he was bounced out by the allrounder
Kyle Jamieson (4-59), gloving an attempted upper-cut to Kiwi keeper Tom Blundell.
Slamming his thigh pad in frustration as he stomped off, Stokes left Root to give his glove story a happy ending – and so far England’s best batsman has played another blinder.
England had begun the day staring down the barrel, with New Zealand 227 runs ahead with six wickets in hand.
It was Broad who gave them hope of drawing first blood – even if he didn’t unfurl his promised bowand-arrow celebration in honour of his beloved
Nottingham
Forest’s promotion.
Either side of Daryl
Mitchell and
Blundell’s 195run stand, the
Kiwis’ aggregate score was 222 for 19.
In other words, it was just like watching England bat. But when Mitchell’s 307-minute vigil for a superb 108 ended, nibbling at Broad’s leg-cutter down the slope, the Black Caps went downhill faster than the Cresta Run.
De Grandhomme was run out by Ollie Pope’s ball, and from the next Broad sent Kyle Jamieson’s off-stump for a spin to complete the team hat-trick, before debutant Matt Potts finished with match figures of 7-68.
With 75 overs plus two days to reach the summit, England had all the time to pull off their secondhighest run chase at Lord’s and once he settled, Captain Fantastic set the tone.
In the commentary box,
Sir Alastair Cook asked:
“Can Ben Stokes just stand still and bat? It’s beautiful when he stays still.”
It will be even more beautiful if England bank only their second Test win in 18 games.