Sport Cricket
JONNY
BAIRSTOW
There was pandemonium when
B
en Stokes just had a
simple message when
I was batting with him
on Sunday as we
chased down
Australia’s score. We
just kept telling each other: “Keep
ploughing on, keep ploughing on.”B
en Stokes’s century was a
masterpiece of three
profoundly different parts.
First came the self-discipline of an
ascetic monk: across the third
evening and fourth morning,
Stokes took 73 balls over his first
three runs.
Next came smooth, controlled
aggression: Stokes added his next
58 runs over 101 balls. And then,
the madness, when he ransackedWe were totally confident we
could do it. Ben has learnt how to
finish off the job. He knows how
to take his team home. When we
reached lunch needing 120 to
win, we thought we were in a
great position.
During our stand, Ben was
incredibly relaxed. Talking to him
between overs, we just told each
other: “Keep going, keep going,
keep going.” Then it was “keep
ploughing on, keep ploughing on”.
It was about staying in the
moment, concentrating on the ball.
He was in the zone, so was I. The
crowd were incredible, but you
have to shut that out because it is
easy to let yourself get carried
away with the cheers and try to
play to them.
He is great to bat with in those
situations. He is so chilled and very
calm. It is his make-up and the
demeanour he has at the moment.about seeing off the second new
ball, but that is a difficult strategy
because it is easier to score when
the ball is harder. Timing when to
go after the runs is difficult.
We put on 86 for the fifth wicket
and we just tried to take the
momentum away from Australia. I
was pleased with how I batted.
They are world-class bowlers and
all you do is try to get the runs any
way possible, whether it be leg
byes or big hits.
We realised their bowlers were
reaching their 25th overs. We were
wearing them down. The ball that
got me moved late. It seamed a bit
and I edged it. I was feeling good
and I thought we were going to
take the team home. It was
devastating.
I still felt we had a chance
because of the batting to come, but
hope faded as wickets fell. While
Ben was still in, it was not over, but2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
Stokes' talent was obvious
as he scored 120 in Perth in
his second Test but he was
dropped after three ducks
against India, with his
average in 2014 being just
15.8 from five innings.Stokes
celebrates his
first Test
century against
Australia in
2013He was dropped
against India in
2014Century against
New Zealand in
2015 marks a
return to formHis 258 in Cape Town
was – until this year –
a career highlightStokes gave notice of
his form with a brilliant
century at Lord’s earlier
this monthBetween 2015 and 2017 Stokes was
often exceptional, scoring quickly (his
strike rate was always in the sixties)
and heavily, with his 258 in Cape
Town in 2016 the highlight.Stokes has seemed a more
mature player since his return
to the team after events in
Bristol, slowing his run rate
down last year and, after a brief
dip in form, moving through the
gears in 2019. For the first time
his average is above his strike
rate – a fine achievement for
such an explosive player.The evolution The tricky early years The swashbuckler The complete player
of Ben Stokes’
batting
10
30
50
70
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His 258 in Cape Town
was – until this year –
a career highlightStokesh
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to thete
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down la
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gears in
his aver
rate – a
such anAverage
that yearStrike rate
that yeare
ga
0Century against
NewZeaaland in
2 015 marks a
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often exceptional, scoring quickly
strike rate was always in the sixtie
and heavily, with his 258 in Cape
Town in 2016 the highlight.shbuckler
wasdropped
ainst India in
142019
ce of
rillianta more
his return
ents in
un rate
fter a brief
hrough the
e first time
is strike
entfor
er.player
201
has seemed a
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eam after eve
slowing his ru
ast year and, af
orm, moving th
n 2019. For the
rage is above hi
fine achieveme
explosive playe222012222 3
dropp
against India, with his
average in 2014 being just
1 5.8 from five innings.Stokes
celebrates his
first Test
century against
Australia in
2013of B
batting
10
300
50
He
agaa
20Average
that yearStrike rate
that yearcentury at Lord’s
this monthearlier
Batsman
has lifted
craft to a
new level
74 off 45 balls with only Jack Leach
for company. It was a spectacular
distillation of his adaptability.
Other Test batsmen could have
played the first two parts. A few, in
the right mood, could perhaps
even have played an innings like
that third part. But to marry all
three together attested to the sheer
scope of Stokes’s batting talents.
In his new book Range, David
Epstein shows that those who
become the most successful in a
particular field tend to have had a
diverse array of experiences. For
example, those who moved across
different careers when they were
young tend to rise quicker than
those who had one career in theirentire life, as they could bring their
range of experience to bear.
In a sense this is what Stokes did
at Headingley. As global Test
averages plummet, we hear much
about the deleterious effects of
Twenty20 techniques on Test
batting. But it seems implausible
that Stokes’s audacity and mastery- from his repertoire of shots, to
the way that he placed the ball and
hared twos, and his cold-eyed
focus when faced with the
preposterous – would have been
possible without the muscle
memory built up from
orchestrating limited-overs chases.
This innings, then, needed all of
Stokes’s range: the defence built up
over a 55-Test career and the T20
experience acquired in the Indian
Premier League and beyond.
Yet, if the heights Stokes reached
in the Headingley heist were new,
the idea that linked the three
phases – of playing the situation –
was not. From a strike rate of 64
before he returned to the Test team
in 2018, his strike rate is 50 since.
Stokes makes it easy to believe
that the game adapts to him, not
him to the game. Yet the process
works both ways. Last year he
made sixties against New Zealand
and India that lasted 4½ hours
apiece, subsuming his natural
instincts to try to save the Tests.
In these innings, he resembledNYNY
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Outpouring of euphoria
and relief greeted the
winning runs, but we
believed we could do it
From disciplined to
swashbuckling, England
all-rounder can deliver,
writes Tim Wigmore
Rerun: England relive last few overs in
the dressing room with Alastair CookHe is just relaxed, regardless of the
pressure. It just felt like everything
was in hand – silly really, given the
huge challenge we faced. We did
not have set targets, we just played
it on merits. There was a bit of talk6 *** Tuesday 27 August 2019 The Daily Telegraph
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