other great performances that are etched into English cricket history
2005 ASHES
‘Freddie was jewel in
the crown but this
will never be beaten’
H
e was the barrel-chested,
gum-chewing talismanic
all-rounder of England’s
2005 Ashes triumph in a series
widely regarded as one of the
all-time greats, but even Andrew
Flintoff ’s heroics do not come
close to what Ben Stokes has done
this summer.
Steve Harmison is well
positioned to judge them both.
Flintoff is his best friend and the
fast bowlers were instrumental in
England’s 2005 success, forming a
ferociously hostile seam attack
alongside Simon Jones and
Matthew Hoggard that bounced
and rushed Australia out of their
comfort zone.
But Harmison was also
alongside Stokes when he broke
into the Durham side nine years
ago and he has not seen a cricketer
win a game on his own in the same
stunning fashion as Stokes did at
Headingley.
They are different players.
Flintoff was a bowler who batted
well, Stokes is a batsman who
bowls some pretty rapid spells, but
Harmison is adamant the latter has
produced the greatest individual
Ashes performance.
“Ben reminds me of Freddie so
much because the strongest
characteristic they have is they
have the biggest heart going,” said
Harmison. “They will do anything
they can for the team, that is what
is at the core of their existence as a
cricket player.
“But whereas Freddie was the
jewel in the crown of a very good
team, Ben has just single-handedly
saved an Ashes series for England.
Freddie balanced the books in
2005, he gave us a middle orderthat could take the game away
from the opposition and he gave us
something extra with the ball. But
without Ben, the Ashes were gone.
“What Ben did, I don’t think will
ever be beaten. Nobody was
backing England to win after they
were bowled out for 67. Now they
are in a position to win the Ashes.
Ben did that. His team-mates need
to win it for him now.
“I’ve never seen an innings like
that. I look at what Kevin Pietersen
did in 2005 at the Oval, that got us
over the line in the final game of an
Ashes series, but what Ben did, you
won’t see anything like that again.”
Harmison also pointed out that
it was Stokes’s ability with the ball
that prevented Australia from
moving into an unassailable
winning position on Saturday.
“You have to remember, he put
England in a position where they
could win the game with the ball,”
he added. “That spell, when he
took three wickets, that meant theyweren’t chasing 400 to win. That,
in itself, was special.
“But the innings with the bat, it
was superhuman. Australia have
the No 1-ranked Test bowler in the
world [Pat Cummins], one of the
best finger spinners in the world
[Nathan Lyon] and a bowler who
got nine wickets in the game [Josh
Hazlewood]. Nobody has delivered
an innings that good against a
bowling attack that impressive.
“I don’t know what he will have
left, because that must have taken
so much out of his body. He went a
long way to winning the World
Cup for us and he has saved us
from losing an Ashes series. He is a
special, special cricketer.”cricket. As for Sunday at
Headingley? The reverse-slog-
sweep six, the ramp to Pat
Cummins. Inconceivable to think
the influence of one-day cricket
was not evident. But then, equally,
Stokes would never have been in a
position to play the innings that he
did had England not collapsed to
67 all out in round one, also
white-ball induced, without doubt.
So yes, irrevocably entwined,
both innings. But which is better?
“I’ve seen some remarkable cricket
moments in my life but that is the
best I’ve seen in over 50 years,”
Geoffrey Boycott decided, with
some authority. “Even better thanhis World Cup performance.” Sir
Alastair Cook, on the BBC’s Test
Match Special, agreed. “The
greatest innings ever played by an
Englishman,” England’s leading
Test run-scorer confirmed. “Forget
an Englishman, I’ve not seen an
innings like that,” Michael
Vaughan challenged. “That has just
bettered the World Cup final.” All
insisting they were not being
caught up in the immediate shock
waves of this seismic event.
And Stokes himself? Well, he
was lost for words; in shock, by his
own admission. “Certainly close,”
Stokes managed, when pushed, on
which of his best was the best.The innings, its context within
the match, the match itself as a
stand-alone spectacle, it is hard to
disagree with our wizened
onlookers. A record chase, the
lowest first-innings total to win a
match for 137 years: the miracle of
Headingley pips even Lord’s.
Yet the match, in the context of
the journey, the series result? No,
not yet, the comparison is
premature. If England’s Test team
recovered from 67 all out, the
white-ball dredging at the 2015
World Cup, ousted in the group
stages, at the hands of a then
minnow Bangladesh, humiliated
Down Under. That was a comebackon a different scale. It was also a
first, a first World Cup win.
Sentimentality counts, too.
Here, today, England are on
home soil, they are ranked above
Australia, who lost for the first time
to India at home over the winter
and were in disarray just a year
ago. By all quantifiable metrics,
England should be winning these
Ashes. But then, by those same
hard and fast numbers, England- with one wicket in hand and 73
still to get – should never have
chased down Sunday’s score.
The series, the tournament, the
end result? Decision, pending.
Bring on Old Trafford.
One-day wonder: Ben Stokes with
partner Clare after the World Cup final‘Nobody has played
an innings that
good against a
bowling attack
that impressive’
Steve Harmison believes
‘superhuman’ innings
trumps Flintoff efforts,
writes Luke Edwards
who made mark on biggest stage
other great per
who made mark on bigg
Ben
Stokes
Tests: 55
Batting av: 35.86
Highest score: 258
Bowling av: 32.22
Best bowling:
6-22are etched into E
A
j
w
rformances that a
gest stage
Ben
Stokes
Tests: 55
Batting av: 3 5 .8 6
ighest score: 258
owling av: 32.22
Best bowling:
6 - 22Andrew
Flintoff
Tests: 79
Batting av: 31.77
Highest score: 167
Bowling av: 32.78
Best bowling:
5-58The Daily Telegraph Tuesday 27 August 2019 *** 5
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