When he batted, Ben Stokes ignored sledges from Indians about the absence of Bazball, dourly plodding along with Joe Root to pull England out of misery in their first innings. He then ran out Rishabh Pant in India’s first innings, and later induced a series of other game-turning moments on the final day at Lord’s as a captain and bowler, propelling England to a memorable triumph. And now he is getting the raves from former England captains Michael Vaughan, Mike Atherton and Nasser Hussain.
Vaughan termed him the most unique captain England have ever had in their long history. “England have never had a captain quite like Ben Stokes. One who just does not accept when he is beaten, one who does not accept his team are having a bad week, and can drag a game back his way through sheer skill and force of will,” wrote Vaughan in The Daily Telegraph. “… And it was Stokes who picked up key wickets in both innings, bowled that epic spell early on the last day, and then broke Jasprit Bumrah’s resistance. He just knows how to win the biggest moments in Test matches … Stokes’s team are the most watchable team I have ever seen, and that includes some of the great sides.”
Inspired by the memory of the 2019 World Cup final at the same venue, Stokes had started the final day with Jofra Archer, and not with his best bowler from previous evening Brydon Carse. And Archer knocked out the off peg of Rishabh Pant with a brute of a delivery. “That was smart tactically from Stokes. I would have bowled Brydon Carse from the Pavilion End, given his performance on the fourth evening, but he recognised how to get Archer into the game,” wrote Vaughan.
It made an impression on Nasser Hussain too. “The major decision that Ben Stokes got right at Lord’s yesterday morning was throwing Jofra Archer the ball six years to the day since he closed out the World Cup final … With Archer struggling on the fourth evening, however, was he going to give him his favoured end, or go with Brydon Carse, who’d bowled a brilliant late spell on day four to get England back in the game. With Archer, there would have been two ways to go – keep him waiting and fire him up, making him want to come on and prove a point, or put the arm around him, remind him he’d been out of the game for a long time, but you’re backing him.
“Crucially, Stokes chose the arm round the shoulder treatment, backing Archer, and it was vital because if England hadn’t taken those three wickets early with the newish ball, India would have won this Test match,” wrote Hussain in the Daily Mail.
And all three were chuffed with Stokes’s bowling efforts. “ As for his own exertions? It was typical of Stokes, wasn’t it? All year, we’ve heard from him that he had to look after himself and others would be looking after him too. That’s fine when there’s nothing on the line, but when there is and it’s the last day of the game here is a cricketer you are just not taking the ball off, and so he pushed himself to exhaustion.He knew there was a drop off in pace and ability to hit the deck between him and Chris Woakes and so had to keep pounding in,” wrote Hussain.
Vaughan hailed it as exceptional. “Stokes’s bowling was exceptional. To be hitting 90mph aged 34 after all his injuries, with the back spin he gets on the ball, the movement, the angle in, the relentless length. He looked horrible to face, and his ball to get KL Rahul was very special.”
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Atherton mentioned the long spells from Stokes and the vital wickets of KL Rahul and Jasprit Bumrah, before summing up Stokes’s importance to this team. “Stokes’s was an immense contribution in this match, with bat, ball and in the field, as player and leader. He made vital runs in both innings, took key wickets and, not least of all, affected the critical run out of Rishabh Pant in the first innings, when India were cruising towards a first-innings lead,” wrote Atherton. “He looked out on his feet at the end and will enjoy the lengthy break now before the Old Trafford Test. What a cricketer and captain he is.”
