Sport Third Specsavers Ashes Test
MICHAEL VAUGHAN
Australia will not be able to stop
hosts from regaining Ashes after
stunning Stokes century
I
n 1981, Mike Brearley had Ian
Botham. In 2005 I had
Andrew Flintoff. In 2019 Joe
Root has Ben Stokes. The
first two won their captain
an Ashes series. The third
will do the same.
I was involved in one of the
great Ashes Tests at Edgbaston, but
this was better. We nearly lost that
game in 2005. England won this
one from nowhere.
At 286 for nine, with another 73
runs needed, England were done
and dusted.
Stokes’s team were 1-0 down in
the series, he was facing a really
strong attack and the Ashes were
staying in Australia. But all of a
sudden this colossal superman
saved the series.
What Botham achieved in 1981
was special. But if England win the
Ashes then Stokes in 2019 will be
better than Beefy in ’81 because he
won us the World Cup, too.
There are still problems with
this England team and their
batting. But when you have players
such as Stokes in your side, there
can be lots wrong with your team
but you can still win. Players such
as Stokes just have that mentality,
belief, ethic of working hard, and a
“give me the ball and I will get us
over the line” attitude.
Forget this nonsense about
teams being a collective and a tight
group, England won that match
because of one man.
Without Stokes this week
England would have been
hammered, which is why when
you have a character like that in
your team anything is possible.
I just do not see how Australia
can stop England now. Last night
they should have been having a
drink and celebrating the fact the
urn is staying in Australia. Instead,
they know they will face 28,000
England fans at Old Trafford next
week going absolutely nuts. Good
luck getting a ticket.
There have been some great
times for English cricket this
summer, but what Stokes has done
for Test cricket he will not be able
to comprehend. The number of
people who will watch that footage
of his Headingley hundred on
television, social media, the 10
o’clock news, read it in the
newspapers and followed it on theradio is massive. His achievement
will have implications beyond this
Test series. Kids will pick up a bat
wanting to be Ben Stokes.
It is another reminder that Test
cricket needs to be protected by
those who run the game. It has to
be the pinnacle. The drama of
yesterday was incredible.
The ground was sold out and
every seat taken at 11am. You just
do not see that. Nobody wanted to
miss a moment. It was as if thecrowd knew they were seeing
something special.
Even with 70 needed they still
cheered when a couple of fours
were hit. I watched videos from
1981 recently and this was a bigger,
more electric crowd.
Tim Paine will be going through
all sorts of agonies over the next
couple of weeks. He will be hurting
badly. Nathan Lyon will be hurting
over that run-out chance. They will
be questioning everything. They
will be blaming Joel Wilson for not
giving Stokes out lbw. But then
why did they review the Jack
Leach lbw in the previous over
when it was clearly not out?
If ever there was an example of
why you have to keep your cool
under pressure, that was it.
Do not waste your reviews, even
when desperate. That review on
Leach cost Australia the victory. I
personally think Wilson had to use
his common sense at that moment
and give Stokes out to Lyon.
England had one review left. They
could have checked his decision
and nobody would have had a
grumble. But ultimately at that
moment it was about Australia
staying cool and their captain
keeping his last review in his back
pocket. He did not get that right.
The problem with this England
Test team is you cannot put it past
them to go to Old Trafford and be
bowled out for 67 again!
But with Stokes man of the
match two games in a row, and
potentially James Anderson
coming back, I think we are in for
an absolute belter in Manchester.
David Warner looks back in
form. Steve Smith will return.
Marnus Labuschagne looks high
class. It is set up perfectly.
England just have to remember
how they coped with batting in the
chase in the second innings. Now,
just bat like that all the time. They
can do it.
If they had batted properly in
the first innings they would have
strolled the Test.
They have enough talent to not
allow Australia a chance in the last
two games, but with the way they
batted in the first innings they
practically gifted them a victory,
even without Smith in the side.
Be ruthless. Do not make that
mistake again. Stokes has probably
saved a couple of careers as well.
In all likelihood he has probably
stopped the selectors thinking they
had to drop two or three players for
the next Test.
It might be that England pick the
same team again now. That is what
an individual can do.
They not only win games but, in
doing so, save their team-mates’
skin and earn them other chances.
Stokes is unstoppable now.
England have to seize on his
incredible performance.England must now seize
on the performance of
their colossal superman
e tooooo sttooop
shes after
y
over the line
Forget the nonsense
about teams being a
collective, England
won that match
because of one man
118 00234217Leg side Off sideWhere Stokes’ final 74 runs were scored
Scoop shot showed
supreme confidence
at the crease8 00234 21Leg side OffWhere Stokes’ final 74 runs were
Scoop shot showed
supreme confidence
at the creasefifty, off 152 balls, but when the
charge for victory started at
Headingley with last man Jack
Leach, Australia were railroaded
by the Twenty20 Stokes.
Of his 76-run stand with Leach,
Stokes scored 74 off 45 balls with
four fours and seven sixes, one an
incredible switch hit into the
Western Terrace. He smashed 103
of the 124 runs England made in
the final session.
His performance was so glorious
that he could get away with saying
on that esteemed institution, Test
Match Special, that Leach had
“serious b-------”. But it is Stokes
who has the inner steel and the
others follow his lead.
It has been evident since the
start of last winter, when he threw
himself in to training and signalled
he was a changed man.
Since Bristol he has realised how
lucky he is to be an England player
and how close he was to throwing
it all away.
In Sri Lanka, Stokes would often
be the last to leave the ground,
running laps of the outfield in the
monsoon rain with Jos Buttler. Thestrength and conditioning coaches
set the players a challenge of
running two kilometres in under
seven minutes on the treadmill.
Stokes won the competition.
He worked for hours in the West
Indies with Graham Thorpe and
Mark Ramprakash, the batting
coaches, on his defence for Test
cricket. He has always had the
shots, the power, reverse sweeps
and switch hits. What he lacked in
the past was shot selection at the
right time.
But this year he has played with
great application, toughing it out
against Nathan Lyon ripping the
ball past his outside edge on
Saturday night and yesterday
before lunch. This calendar year he
is averaging 57 in Test cricket, but
his strike rate of 54.43 is far lower
than in his previous good years of
2015-16. It is a sign of a maturing
player capable of building innings
and picking the time to attack.
“I was in the zone, I knew what I
needed to do,” he said at the end.
There is more to come.
The Stokes Summer of 2019
story has more twists in store.Winning moment: Stokes celebrates
before crowd realises the Test is wonGeoffrey Boycott
@GeoffreyBoycottI’ve seen some remarkable
cricket moments in my life
but that is the best I’ve
seen in over 50 years. @
benstokes38 saved the
Ashes and gave a magical
inspirational innings. Even
better than his World Cup
performance.
Well done @ECB_cricket
The Daily Telegraph Monday 26 August 2019 ** 5
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