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It was two days before the second Ashes Test and Ben Stokes had been thinking.
A damning report had revealed “widespread” discrimination across English cricket. Stokes was set to speak to the press and knew the questions would come.
At around midnight, Stokes contacted the England media manager and said he was planning to read out a statement. His own words. No corporate guff.
When the journalists and cameras gathered at Lord’s the following day, Stokes bared his soul.
“I am Ben Stokes, born in New Zealand, a state-educated pupil who dropped out of school at 16 with one GCSE in PE,” he said.
“I needed help with the spelling and grammar in this speech and I am currently sitting here as the England men’s Test captain.”
Five days later, Stokes was still at Lord’s, but this time in the middle. He was baring his soul once more, but in a way he does better than most. Bat in hand, Australians to defy and a rapt crowd in danger from flying cricket balls.
Stokes is the ultimate competitor. When the odds are longest, the mountain highest, he finds something inside only very few possess.
This time, the impossible was just that. Yet the fact Stokes made us believe says everything about what we know him to be capable of.
The 155 that Stokes belted on Sunday had all the makings of the greatest Test innings of all time. He was on course to navigate England to a target of 371, having arrived at the crease at 45-4. Nine sixes in an innings is an Ashes record. No-one in the history of Test cricket has made a bigger score batting at number six or lower in the fourth innings of the match.
It was all ended by a miscue off Josh Hazlewood, but what an exhilarating, life-affirming ride.
There were nods to Stokes’ other epics. A Greatest Hits, if you will.
In the 2019 World Cup final against New Zealand on the same ground, there was the freak deflection off Stokes’ bat for four crucial overthrows. On this occasion, at virtually the exact same spot on the square, there was another deflection as Marnus Labuschagne hurled the ball. No overthrows this time, though, and we probably should have known it wouldn’t end well for England.
Before Stokes’ Headingley heroics against Australia in 2019, he bowled 24.2 overs virtually unchanged. Given then he was four years younger with a working left knee, then 12-over spell he bowled on Saturday at Lord’s was probably more impressive. He should have stopped at 11, but doesn’t like odd numbers.
Where this latest entry to the Stokes canon was different to its predecessors was the catalyst: the deep red anger caused by Jonny Bairstow’s ‘stumping’ by Alex Carey. Not only did that light the fire under Stokes, it also meant he was joined by perhaps the only man who likes an Ashes battle as much as he does – Stuart Broad.
Broad is the man who will always known for Ashes spells at The Oval, Chester-le-Street and Trent Bridge. This time, his job was to fend off bouncers and antagonise Australians.
Earlier in the match, he had gone for an X-ray on his jaw after being hit by the ball. It would have surprised no-one if Broad had levelled the score by jawing someone himself – Labuschagne seemed the most likely candidate.
Mr Ashes and Mr Miracle. All hell broke loose. The thirst in the stands for Australian blood was only sated by the flogging of Australian bowlers.
A fifth-day crowd freed of shirts, ties and blazers temporarily halted the booing any time Stokes found the boundary – at one point seven times in 10 Cameron Green deliveries. It was pandemonium.
Broad picked a fight with anyone in a baggy green cap. Stokes slipped a gear with some violent striking of the ball. Intelligently, he hit with the slope and breeze. Unfortunately for spectators in the Mound Stand, that meant constantly worrying about being sconned.
Australia have been here before. After they were shattered by Stokes at Headingley four years ago, they were made to sit down as a squad and re-watch the final afternoon, detailed deliciously in the documentary series The Test.
This wasn’t watching, this was reliving the whole damn nightmare. They had learned little, too. Fielders were scattered as far as Abbey Road and Warwick Avenue. Pat Cummins would have put a man next to Old Father Time if he could.
When Stokes finally offered the leading edge off Hazlewood, it was more a reward for Australian luck than judgement. Another half an hour of Stokes and England would have been very, very close.
Even in defeat, Stokes adds to his legend as one of the most influential British sportspeople of all time.
Match-winning displays in two World Cup finals, Headingley, now this. The individual performances already make a list few, if any, can match and that is before his attempt to revolutionise England’s Test cricket is taken into account.
It was fitting that Stokes played a near-lone hand at the end of this Test, given he is the personification of a team that had endured a pretty ropey week, up there with their worst since the all-rounder took over as captain.
They had the better of the conditions at pretty much every stage, dropped catches and surrendered the initiative when they were dominating with the bat on the second evening. They came so near to winning because Stokes produced an innings for the ages but ultimately paid for their sloppiness of the previous four days and find themselves 2-0 down with three to play.
Stokes, a man used to doing what no-one has done before, now has to rouse his England team to do something unprecedented – never before have they come from 2-0 down to win an Ashes series.
There is a significance to Thursday’s third Test being played at Headingley – the home of Ashes comebacks. It is Australia’s first return there since 2019 and they will get a hostile welcome given the controversy surrounding the Bairstow stumping.
But England can’t rely on the Headingley history alone. They need swift improvement in most areas. Their batters need to develop a ruthlessness. The fast bowlers have lacked sharpness and the fielding is scruffy.
Whisper it quietly, but at times England have looked like a team who spent the weekend before the Ashes playing golf at a time when Australia were winning the World Test Championship.
There might also be some patching up of the team to be done. Ollie Pope’s shoulder is sore. Moeen Ali’s finger is fragile. Mark Wood is nowhere to be seen despite not playing any cricket for two months. James Anderson is looking like a man about to mark his 41st birthday.
If England have issues, what has this latest Stokes symphony done to the Australians? They had looked like a relentless juggernaut, but a few overs of Stokes hitting had them back as a rudderless rabble.
They may well regroup in time for Headingley, but there will always be that fear of what England’s captain could do to them. Cummins might well check under the bed before he goes to sleep to make sure Stokes isn’t lurking.
Still, an England comeback is a huge ask, even for a superman like Stokes. It is not just a question of him pulling out a Herculean performance, but also coaxing something out of each of his team-mates.
But if anyone can…
“It’s 2-0 down with three games left,” said Stokes. “All we are thinking about is 3-2.”
Come on, Stokesy. Just one more miracle.
By Stephan Shemilt
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