Stokes striving to reach new heights in push to join greats
Hero of Headingley heist training hard to emulate Botham and Flintoff in inspiring Ashes triumph
Any fears that Ben Stokes’s ambitions for the summer of 2019 had already been sated were assuaged by the sight of the allrounder at training two days out from the fourth Ashes Test. Long after his team-mates had returned inside, Stokes could be seen running laps of the Old Trafford ground, even as the Mancunian drizzle started to fall.
For Stokes, sprinting round grounds is the down payment for the wondrous feats he delivers on the pitch. His extraordinary summer has been underpinned by becoming one of the fittest cricketers in the world today – and, given the leaps in fitness and sports science made by the sport in recent years, surely one of the fittest ever. Stokes has been given a tailormade strength and conditioning programme, and runs a twokilometre time trial in only seven minutes – faster than anyone else in the England side. The Mcdonald’s he indulged in after his unbeaten 135 at Headingley concealed the model athlete that Stokes has become.
Stokes’s commitment to self-improvement is such that sometimes the challenge is making him stop. Eoin Morgan, England’s limited-overs captain, has previously had to tell him to curb
his training regime, fearful that it could lead to injury.
The running on the Old Trafford outfield, of course, was done firmly with the prize of the 2019 Ashes in mind. From entering the crease on the fourth evening at Lord’s, with England at grave risk of going 2-0 down, Stokes’s two centuries have utterly transformed the series.
And yet, and yet. It is still only 1-1 in the series, which means that Australia remain on course to retain the Ashes. One Australia victory in either of the last two Tests would ensure as much.
Stokes holds out England’s best hope of preventing that. Rather than bask in that Headingley heist, now Stokes has the chance to be the main author, just as Ian Botham was in 1981 and Andrew Flintoff in 2005, of a come-from-behind England Ashes victory at home.
Compared to those last two great England all-rounders, Stokes is perhaps a little more of a batsman, and a little less of a bowler. Yet his bowling with the old ball in the second innings at Headingley attested to how his reverse swing could also be crucial in the last two Tests. Indeed, the last time England won the Ashes, at Trent Bridge four years ago, Stokes took six for 36 in the second innings.
Stokes has not taken a fivewicket haul in Tests since returning to the side at the start of 2018. But in these 16 Tests, he has taken 40 wickets at just 28 apiece, compared to an average of 34 before 2018. Stokes’s economy rate has also dipped by 0.2 runs an over, showing that he delivers fewer four-balls, too. Little wonder that, despite his huge importance as a batsman, Stokes now seems to be Joe Root’s third seamer in the side, behind Jofra Archer and Stuart Broad. Indeed, so far this series Stokes has bowled 84.2 overs, while Chris Woakes – nominally the third seamer – has bowled 78.
“What a summer he’s had,” said Australia’s head coach, Justin Langer. “Whilst everybody will talk about his runs in that third Test, what blew me away was that spell of bowling the day before. He’s the vice-captain, the captain needed him, his country needed him and he just kept running in and bowling and bowling.”
This was all testament to how Stokes has been able to bring his skills, his spirit and his stamina to the multifarious challenges of the summer of 2019.
“He deserves the luck he’s getting, because you see the spirit he plays with,” Langer said. “That’s what great players do. He’s had a golden run, I hope it doesn’t last for two more Test matches. But I’ve got huge respect for him and the way he goes about his cricket.”
Throughout Ashes history, Australia have won four Tests for every three that England have. But, while Australia have generally had a narrow edge, all-rounders are the sole area where England have indubitably had an advantage over Australia. And just occasionally, a great English all-rounder has been able to bend an entire Ashes series to their will, like Stokes is threatening to.
From marshalling England to a tie – and a victorious super-over
– in the World Cup final to his astonishing innings at Headingley, Stokes has already produced two moments that would ordinarily qualify as the English cricketing moment of the decade, never mind the summer. Yet to see the ferocity of his training at Old Trafford was to see a sportsman with designs on producing another such performance for the ages – and, with it, wrestling back the urn from Australia.