Daily Mail, Wednesday, August 28, 2019
75
BEN STOKES’ epic performance
in England’s miraculous one-
wicket win over Australia at
Headingley has seen him rise
to a career-high 13th in the
official Test batting rankings.
Stokes, whose unbeaten 135
denied the Australians the
chance to retain the urn with
two matches in hand, has
surged to 693 rating points,
elevating him 13 places and
beyond his previous best
position of 19th.
The 28-year-old — whose eight
sixes in the final innings in
Leeds set a record for the
most by one batsmen in a Test
match without one from
another player — is also up to
second in the International
Cricket Council’s all-rounder
standings, behind West Indies
captain Jason Holder.
Stokes’ previous best placing
was third but his astonishing
efforts to seal a 359-run chase
— a record for England — plus
four wickets in the match put
him 22 points behind Holder.
Jofra Archer, who entered the
rankings at 83 following an
impressive Lord’s debut earlier
this month, has hurtled 40
spots to No 43 among the Test
bowlers after taking eight
wickets — including six for 45
on the first day. Meanwhile,
England captain Joe Root
moved from ninth to seventh
in the batting charts following
a second-innings 77.Switched
on: Stokes
hits his
amazing six
off Lyon
GETTY IMAGESHero races
up rankings
after miracle
WE TRIED TO GET OVER THAT NAIL-BITING
DEFEAT AT EDGBASTON IN 2005 BY PUTTING
OUR ENERGIES INTO WHAT CAME NEXT
It is very hard to avoid the
conclusion we are now in for
one of the classic Ashes series,
maybe even up there with 2005
in terms of excitement and
drama. It’s fantastic.
the big question ahead of Old
trafford will be how Australia
recover from that incredible finish
to the third test and the sub-plot
will be what happens in the tour
match at Derby tomorrow when
Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith
will be pushing for places.
It will be interesting to see which
seamers are rested because that
will give us an indication of Aus-
tralia’s thinking over the make-up
of their attack at Old trafford.
Australia have used their
bowling resources very well so
far in this series and they will find
it tough to leave either Josh
Hazlewood or Pat Cummins out
of the next game.
So for me either Starc or Peter
Siddle come in for James Pattin-
son but he has bowled very well
too so I don’t envy tim Paine,
Justin Langer and trevor Hohns
in making that call. All the bowl-
ers know they may miss a game at
some point and that is a show of
real strength for Australia.
And as long as Smith proves he
is fully recovered from the
concussion he suffered at Lord’s
then we know one batsman will
be missing out in Manchester.
It won’t be Marnus Labuschagne,
that’s for sure, because he has
been exceptional since coming in
at Lord’s for Smith. We at Sussex
saw Labuschagne up close when
he was playing for Glamorgan
earlier this season and I remem-
ber myself and our assistant
coach Jason Swift talking about
how he looked like an old-schooltop-order player. He absorbed
pressure and left the ball so well
which I noticed the commenta-
tors at Headingley picked up on.
they were the hallmarks of a very
good, well-organised player.
So that means either Usman
Khawaja or Marcus Harris will, I
believe, miss out with
Labuschagne batting at three
either way and Smith at four.
that would mean either a
straight swap with Khawaja or
him moving up to open with
David Warner.
Australia will be hurting but the
way we tried to get over that
famous nail-biting defeat against
England at Edgbaston in 2005 was
to put all our energies into what
came next. How can we be bet-
ter? What can we do differently to
improve our performance?
It will come down to individuals
asking themselves what more
they can do for the team in these
last two series-deciding tests.
they must ask if they are doing
their jobs.
Personally, I wasn’t bowling as
effectively in that 2005 series
(right) as I would have liked andat that time I would have been
looking back at footage of my run-
up and delivery stride to try to
find things I wasn’t doing right.
I remember finding myself jump-
ing in a bit too much once I got to
the crease and I was thinking
about so many things other than
my main task for the team — to
bowl the right line and length and
hit that shoebox, so to speak, on
a good length.
So what Australia need to do
now is reflect on the performance
and not necessarily the result
because if they think back to
how they lost in Leeds it can
only be negative.
But if you look at what
happened throughout the
four days they can do it
objectively and get the
most out of it before
heading to Old
trafford next week.
I certainly don’t
think there will be
any scarring over
the way Australia
lost for them to
worry about. they
will move on and itwon’t be an issue. Even though
that third test defeat will be
incredibly disappointing for
Australia there were some good
things to come out of it for them.
the batting of Labuschagne, for
instance, good catching and
certainly some very fine bowling.
Everybody focused on that
Nathan Lyon lbw shout against
Ben Stokes with just two runs
needed for an England victory but
that was just one moment in a
long game.
that’s not the reason why the
test was won or lost.
the closer the match is the more
disappointing a defeat becomes
but the fact is, however you lose a
game, it is not greeted with
any smiles or love. And
Australia will look at
the other camp and
will know England
have their own
concerns too.
that was one of the
great tests and the
moment England
won it was
euphoric for
them, but if
they review
the game
honestly
they will
knowthere were a lot of things they
could have done better.
I tipped Australia to win this
Ashes 3-1 and I’m sticking with
that. to put any bias aside, what
happened at Headingley is exactly
what we want from test cricket.
the format gets some criticism at
times and it gets bashed around a
bit but, wow, what an advert for
the long game that was.
Headingley showed how thrill-
ing and wonderful a test match
can be and as much as I love the
other formats of the game and the
drama they create in their own
way there really is nothing quite
like a tight, exciting test.
the whole of Australia thought
the Ashes were won before that
last hour. No doubt about that.
But all they can do is applaud
Stokes and say well done
to England.
there is no point in getting
involved in nonsense about what
could have happened, or what if a
decision had gone the other way.
that’s all peripheral.
You could critique every game in
test history and come up with an
alternative ending based on could
haves and should haves so let’s
celebrate it for what it was — a
remarkable game of cricket that
was loved by young and old. Let’s
hope for another one next week.JASON GILLESPIE
By RICHARD GIBSON
BANNED: Sep 2017-Feb 18HOW STOKES BECAME COMPLETE PLAYER
7050BEN STOKES has added
control to his aggression
at the crease — and it has
made him into the star
England all-rounder of
his generation.
Our graph (right) shows
Stokes’s Test average and
strike-rate (runs per 100
balls) in each calendar
year. For the first time his
yearly average is higher
than his strike-rate.3010
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019AverageStrike-rateV1