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Australia douse a Ben-stoked fire at Lord’s
Pat Cummins’ side overcomes England in the second Ashes Test despite a sensational counter-attack by the England skipper on an eventful final day
So long then, England. It was fun knowing this side of you. The highs were exhilarating, those chases were the stuff of legend. But you can’t always rely on Ben Stokes to deliver from the inanity of taking the pitch out of the equation. Twice in 2019—during the World Cup final, and then in the Ashes Test at Headingley—was Stokes infallible, a one-man answer to the most skewed asks in modern cricket. On Sunday, he made us wonder if he was redefining greatness again. Which itself is an achievement, for in a lifetime of cricket memories only very few men find such immortality—VVS Laxman, Brian Lara, Kusal Perera and AB de Villiers perhaps. But Stokes was on the verge of achieving it the third time in a career driven by emotion more than ambition.
Don’t let any of that cloud the reality though. Australia are now 2-0 up in the Ashes because they refused to blink first in both Tests. In Edgbaston, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon had braved a full-blown English assault. But at Lord’s, they ran into Stokes and his legend, without Lyon and on a pitch that didn’t offer anything to bowlers. Stokes feeds off dire situations, his instincts inevitably sharpened by the improbability of a victory. Memories of Headingley ran high but unlike in 2019, where Jonny Bairstow added 86 for the fifth wicket with Stokes, here Bairstow’s contribution was cut short by a freak stumping that England may not agree with but Australia would definitely believe it to be a leveler after Mitchell Starc’s catch of Ben Duckett was deemed grassed on Day 4.
Cameron Green had just bowled his last ball but Bairstow had no business wandering out of his crease before the umpire could have said ‘over’. Alex Carey took a shy at the stumps, Australia appealed and the third umpire upheld it. Broad walked in, warning Carey that the stumping was "all you'll ever be remembered for”. It lit a fuse in Stokes as well. What followed was a well thought out assault as Stokes added 108 in 21 overs with Stuart Broad in a scintillating 155 that included nine sixes—all on the on side and nine boundaries. The next time Green had bowled, Stokes hammered three boundaries through midwicket, behind square and to cow corner. The following Green over witnessed three consecutive sixes—over midwicket, fine leg—dropped by Mitchell Starc to cheers—and over backward square. From 62 to 100, Stokes used just 16 balls.
“My innings wasn't a response to the dismissal, it was a response to where the game was," Stokes later told the BBC. But Stokes did keep the controversy open-ended. “When is it justified that the umpires have called over?” he asked. “Is the onfield umpires making movement, is that enough to call over? I am not disputing the fact it is out because it is out. For Australia, it was the match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no.”
Stokes rode his luck though. Cummins not holding on to a difficult return catch, Steve Smith dropping him after running in from deep backward square leg boundary, Renshaw throwing to the wrong end, that too wide—with each reprieve strengthened the hope that this indeed will be Headingley 2.0. Australia were party to this hype’s buildup, pushing back the field to the boundary but still watching Stokes clear it at will. All nine sixes were a testament to Stokes’s game-awareness while Broad kept playing the perfect foil at the other end. “Having a world-class player like Ben on the top of his game, you start thinking 'that boundary looks short',” Cummins said later.
Better sense prevailed at the nick of time though as Australia realised they had to come up with a backup plan. Green stepped up in the 67th over, nailing wide yorkers, and Stokes was visibly under pressure for the first time in his innings. That over kicked off a phase of 28, mostly sixth stump, deliveries Stokes couldn’t score a boundary off. The 29th ball, and Stokes finally imploded, spearing Josh Hazlewood, allowing Carey enough time to place himself perfectly for the catch. That dismissal, and the innings by extension, underscored both Stokes’s greatness and the team’s limitations. Only Stokes could have transitioned that seamlessly. But the fact that Stokes had scored 75 runs off 94 balls pitched shorter than 10m while all other batters garnered 241 off 491 balls with 16 dismissals shows how predictable cricket can be once short balls become the norm.
It’s also clear how Australia are reaping the fruit of playing patiently—they have batted 202.3 overs this Test compared to England’s 157.5 overs—but England are still not ready to amend their brand of cricket. "Reckless is an easy word to use,” said Stokes. “What we have managed to do is give everyone complete clarity about what they want to do. If you want to go in a certain way you have the backing of the dressing room to do that." But Stokes is also clearly under pressure to win. “2-0 down with three games left. All we are thinking about is 3-2.”
Don Bradman's Australia is the only team to have bounced back from 0-2 down to win an Ashes before this, in 1936-37. To achieve something similar will take more than “Bazball” from here.
