The Times - UK (2020-07-21)

64 2GM Tuesday July 21 2020 | the times

Sport

The preamble should not have been so
straightforward. Scoring runs at a rate
that was quick enough to allow suffi-
cient time to bowl out West Indies
should not have been so easy. That
much had been obvious on Sunday
evening, at the start of England’s
second innings and throughout this
Test on a sluggish surface.
But then you have to remember that
all the rules and the assumptions can be
torn up in a jot when Ben Stokes is
around. And that is what happened
here, as Stokes played a quite extraordi-
nary innings, striking the ball with fero-
cious power to make 78 not out from
only 57 balls so that England could set
their opponents 312 in 85 overs. They
made 92 in 11 overs on this last morning.
It was always a tricky decision for the
captain, Joe Root, to make as regards
his declaration — and, believe me, dec-
larations are infinitely clearer to decide
upon when you are not the one making
them and facing the consequences —
but it would have been a whole heap
harder without Stokes and his excep-
tional talents.
Stokes’s innings was all the more
remarkable for its contrast with his first
innings 176 off 356 balls, his slowest
Test century and one that he called
“different”, prompting him to declare in
astonishment afterwards: “It’s some-
thing I never thought I’d be capable of,
facing 300 balls in an innings.”
The truth is that he appears capable
of anything right now. It was little
surprise that he took the key wicket of
Jermaine Blackwood just before tea, as
well as that of Alzarri Joseph later. As
the former Kent and England batsman
turned Sky commentator Rob Key
remarked later in the day: “At the
moment it is Ben Stokes’s world and we
are just living in it.”
Promoting Stokes to open on Sunday
evening (his first appearance at the top
of the order in first-class cricket) with
Jos Buttler was a wise move, an instant
statement of intent, but when he began
again here on 16 from 18 balls this
morning, nobody could surely have en-
visaged the carnage that would ensue.

From the very first ball of the day that

he faced from Kemar Roach you could

tell he was in the mood, as he crashed

the ball out on the off side to the bound-

ary sweeper with a resounding thud.

By the end of that first over England

had added 14 runs to their overnight

total as Stokes hit a four and then a six

that was struck so hard down the

ground that it left his partner, Root,

gasping in amazement. So too the rest

of us. Even Stokes reacted as if he knew

he had hit a thunderbolt of a shot.

There may have been eight fielders

on the boundary — they spent plenty of

time collecting the ball from the empty

stands like club cricketers retrieving

slogged sixes from the undergrowth —

but the boundaries just arrived one

after the other.

There were three sixes and four fours

in all, with his half-century coming off

36 balls, the fastest by a Test-match

opener since David Warner’s in 23 balls

for Australia against Pakistan in 2017.

John Campbell made a huge error in

dropping Stokes on 29, but otherwise

Stokes was in utter command of

England’s total of 129 for three.

It takes a player of the highest class

and technique to change gears so

rapidly, as he had from first innings to

second. In the first innings his strike

rate was 49.43 and in the second it was

136.84. That is some acceleration.

It emphasised the cricketing verity

that your best batsmen are your best

batsmen in whatever format. If a player

has a good, solid basic technique — and

crucially with a backlift that pushes

their hands up and back behind their

body — then they can usually learn the

more aggressive and dynamic shots re-

quired in the shorter forms of the game.

Stokes has a defensive game now —

having worked diligently to play the

ball later and align himself after going

back and across in a more pronounced

trigger movement — of which any

opener would be proud, but he also has

the power of the very biggest hitters.

The face of his bat can be slightly

more closed than you might like but he

works around that, and one of the more

jaw-dropping shots of his innings was a

deft late cut down to third man — with

the face closed rather than open — the

ball after he had drilled Jason Holder

for six. Muscle and touch combined.

Stokes has now made 43, 46, 176 and

78 not out in this series for a rather de-

cent average of 114.33. His overall Test

average is still only 38.58. I say “only”

because it does seem rather low for the

calibre of the batsman now presented

before us, but Stokes has never really

cared too much for the statistics.

Batsmen are generally a selfish

breed, but Stokes takes selflessness to

new levels. And he is now taking his

batting to new levels. That average will

surely rise into the realms of greatness

soon enough. After his slowest Test century in the first innings, Stokes threw off the shackles

How

England

rated^8

4

5

9

4

6

8

5

8

4

7

Total

68

Rory Burns Quiet game, falling

leg-before to Chase’s second

ball of the match for 15 — he

reviewed, but it was stone-dead

Dom Sibley Painstaking 120 off

372 balls, his second century in

eight Tests, laid the groundwork

for a big first-innings total

by Simon Wilde

Joe Root Carved a wide ball to

slip, the fourth time in five

innings he had fallen to Joseph;

quick 22 in second innings

Zak Crawley Fell to earth after

his innings of 76 in the first Test

with a tame first-ball duck and

a score of 11 chasing quick runs

Jos Buttler Dragged on in both

innings but took a fine diving

catch to break the crucial

Blackwood-Brooks stand

Chris Woakes First-ball duck

was not a promising start but

bowled wonderfully in both

innings. Jimmy who?

Sam Curran Late stand-in for

Jofra Archer again displayed his

knack for useful contributions

with three top-order wickets

Ben Stokes Another remarkable

match, 254 runs in two innings,

and a momentum-shifting

11-over spell on the fourth day

Ollie Pope A cheap dismissal

and a walk-on part in the pre-

declaration biffing before his

stunning catch ended the match

Dom Bess Useful late-order

runs but struggled to settle on a

helpful surface; produced a jaffa,

though, to get Holder

Stuart Broad Vowed to be on

the money after his omission

in Southampton — and he was,

with two key three-wicket bursts

Fastest openers

Only three times has a batsman

opened a Test innings and scored as

many as Stokes at a higher strike rate

(runs per 100 balls)

Biggest difference in strike-rate

between two innings of 50+ in the

same Test

Players who have scored

250+ runs, taken three or

more wickets and a catch

in the same match

173.91

158.92

141.66

136.84

Chris Gayle 80* WI v NZ, 2014

Sanath Jayasuriya 89 SL v Bang 2001

Chris Gayle 102 WI v Aus 2009

Ben Stokes 78* Eng v WI 2020

Runs Balls

Balls were not always recorded in Test matches

until recent decades

58

114

66

39

Joe Burns Aus v Ind, Sydney 2015

Frank Worrell

(WI v Eng, Trent Bridge 1950)

Sanath Jayasuriya (SL v India, Aug 1997)

Tillakaratne Dilshan

(SL v Bang, Jan 2009)

Ben Stokes in this game

176

355

78*

4

57

Ben Stokes

Eng v WI Old Trafford 2020

101

168

101*

57

Misbah-ul-Haq

Pak v Aus Abu Dhabi 2014

118

117

87

His incredible game

Stokes’s strike rate more than doubled

from the first to the second innings

Sound technique

and a thrilling

ability to attack

Moving in the right direction: Stokes’s Test averages

10

20

30

40

50

20 30 40 50 60 70

Bowling

31.73

Batting

38.58

Tests

Steve James

Sport England v West Indies: Second Test