Daily Mail - 27.08.2019

(^) Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 27, 2019
74 ASHES SENSATION
THE ASHES
By PAUL
NEWMAN
Cricket Correspondent WELCOME TO THE
PANTHEON OF
ENGLAND GREATS
Stokes’ stunning summer lifts him alongside
T
his is no longer
about the redemp-
tion of Ben stokes.
it goes way beyond
that. This is now a
tale of cricketing greatness
that could propel England
to both the World Cup and
the Ashes.
it has been easy for the narrative
of this ‘summer of stokes’ to focus
on his attempt to make up for time
lost by the Bristol affair and his
consequent absence from an
Ashes series lost 4-0 by England.
But now stokes has earned the
right for the controversy that
lasted almost two years, and which
could so easily have engulfed him,
to be consigned to history. Every-
thing now should be about his
reinstatement as England’s talis-
man and Test vice-captain.
For what the 28-year-old has
done this year, both on that
unforgettable sunday at Lord’s in
the World Cup final just six weeks
ago and an equally unforgettable
sabbath in Leeds to ignite the
Ashes, really does mark him out as
a true England great.
if the summer of 1981 was all
about sir ian Botham and the
magical 2005 Ashes belonged to
Andrew Flintoff then this year,
both with white ball and red, will
be remembered as the summer
when stokes secured his place in
the pantheon alongside both.
And, while stokes has some way
to go to surpass the sheer awe-
inspiring ability of Botham, he can
be considered a superior cricketer
to Flintoff, certainly with the bat.
Especially if he inspires England
to a momentous double this year.
The great man Botham, com-
mentating for sky on sunday as
stokes surpassed even his legen-
dary achievements on this famous
old headingley ground, has no
doubts that we are now in the
presence of cricketing greatness.
‘You have to remember Ben is
the special one because he is capa-
ble of so many things,’ said Botham
yesterday. ‘he’s growing into a big-
ger and better cricketer every day
and what happened at headingley
was box office. he didn’t have any-
thing to lose and enjoyed himself.
That’s the key. he was determined
but he enjoyed the moment and
that will knock the stuffing out of
the Aussies now.’
The longer-term hope is that
stokes can not only inspire that
new generation of cricket fans the
ECB are so desperate to attract
but also turn them on to 50-over
cricket and, most importantly, the
ultimate form of the game — Test
cricket. Frankly, who needs The
hundred when new enthusiasts
can watch this? ‘Over the next few
weeks when you go past village
greens you will see people playing
cricket rather than football,’ said
the man who inspired a generation
during the 1981 Ashes. ‘That’s the
effect it has. This was special. To
keep his concentration and then
destroy Australia single-handedly
when they threw everything at
him. it’s all started to come
together for Ben now and he’ll be
wanted all over the world.’
how stokes’s career evolves will
be fascinating. he is clearly capa-
ble of batting at three for England
in Tests and while he is a little
inferior with the ball to both
Botham and Flintoff his bowling
should not be underestimated.
Take, for instance, that incredi-
ble spell of 14 unbroken overs on
Friday that did so much to keep
England in the Test after their
implosion for what we thought
was an Ashes-defining 67 all out.
stokes admits he needs time to
adjust to batting if he has had a
long bowl so Joe Root will have to
handle the man he backed so pas-
sionately, even during his Bristol-
induced absence, very carefully. For
now No 5 and fourth seamer seem
perfect for him. Yet no one is fitter
Smoking hot: Flintoff
in 2005 GETTY IMAGES
Man of the hour: Stokes takes a moment to digest what he achieved at Headingley
CAREER BATTING
TEST AVERAGE
CAREER BOWLING
31.77 TEST AVERAGE
32.78
CAREER BATTING
TEST AVERAGE
35.86
CAREER BOWLING
TEST AVERAGE
32.22
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