Having reinvigorated English Test cricket, Ben Stokes again holds the Ashes key. His fitness will determine how balanced a team England can field writes MIKE ATHERTON.
Hard to think now, given the heightened optimism and excitement ahead of an Ashes summer, but 12 months ago, as Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum came together for the first time at Lord’s, England’s Test team were on one of their worst streaks in history. Since then, we have witnessed one of the most remarkable, uplifting turnarounds in any sport, never mind cricket.
As much as Rob Key, the managing director, and McCullum, the head coach, must take their share of credit, the principal driver of performance in a cricket team is always the captain, by dint of the number of instinctive in-play decisions that must be taken and the amount of time he spends with his players – six hours or more in every Test match day – without the coaching staff getting in the way. There has never been a great cricket team without someone significant at the helm.
Stokes has filled his players with self-belief, optimism and drive, banishing the fear of failure. That they walk a little taller under his captaincy than they did before is undeniable. It is hard to quantify this influence but nobody, surely, is blind to it, having witnessed the confidence and freedom with which his players have performed from Trent Bridge to Tauranga. As player and captain, Stokes is essential to the character and spirit of this team.
That everyone has been on “Stokes watch” before the first Test of the summer is, therefore, understandable. When last seen in England colours in Wellington, Stokes was palpably injured, unable to fulfil his function as an all-rounder and struggling to bat without hindrance in the final run chase of the series. At one point, setting off limping for a single, I described him as resembling “an octogenarian scurrying from an April shower”. Stokes did not bowl in that game.
Since then, he has been in the Indian Premier League, but largely absent from view. Stokes played two matches only for his franchise, Chennai Super Kings, making 8 and 7, and bowling one over, which went for 18. Like Joe Root, who warmed the bench at Rajasthan, he was surplus to requirement, albeit more expensively so.
There are two ways of looking at his stint there. The glass-half-empty version is laced with worry and doubt based on the cortisone injection that was required before the tournament and the lack of game time that ensued. He comes into the international summer having played next to no cricket, with a question mark around his fitness, and no obvious solution should that be a significant issue.
The glass-half-full version is that he was paid handsomely (pounds 1.6 million plus win bonus) for a period that allowed him to physically ready himself for the Ashes. In a sport which has punishing schedules, a two-month period of physical conditioning is a rare and precious opportunity to reset the body for what is to come. No prizes for guessing from which glass Stokes is sipping, saying he is ready to fulfil a vow he made to his teammates at the end of the New Zealand series.
“I made a promise to myself and teammates, in particular the bowlers, that I will be doing everything I possibly can to be in a position to fulfil that role [as an all-rounder]. I’ve done that,” he said on Wednesday.
“The knee is in a much better place than it was in Wellington. I’ve been in India for the IPL over the past nine to ten weeks but what I have done is get myself into a position where I am not able to look back and regret or say I have not given myself the best opportunity to play a full role with the ball this summer.”
Physically, Stokes reckons to be back to where he was in 2019 – a memorable summer for him, of course – and he certainly looks fitter and leaner than he did in New Zealand. That said, his preparation this week at Lord’s has involved some batting in the nets – he looked in superb touch on Wednesday – some throwing to teammates with a “dog stick” but no bowling. He is not expected to bowl against Ireland and his readiness to play a full role in the Ashes must be taken on trust.
Stokes’s fitness to bowl is fundamental to England’s chances and has an impact on every aspect of selection. It is vital for the balance, clearly, with five bowlers being preferable to four. There is no obvious solution if he cannot bowl, given that he must play as captain and one of six batsmen. England have asked for flat, hard pitches, which would put a strain on an attack with only three seamers and Jack Leach, who suffered a mauling at the hands of Australia’s batsmen last time.
His fitness is not the only question mark, with England’s attack for the Ireland Test likely to undergo a complete overhaul in Birmingham in two weeks’ time. James Anderson and Ollie Robinson have been rested here out of precaution and are expected to be fit for the first Ashes Test, while Mark Wood will use the next fortnight to get his loads up, having sat out the latter stages of the IPL on paternity leave. He has not played since mid-April.
With Matthew Potts (playing this week) and Chris Woakes (not playing) in reserve, England have strong back-up for their principal swing and seam-style bowlers: Stuart Broad, Anderson and Robinson. With injuries to Jofra Archer and Olly Stone, they have less support for Wood, which is the reason Josh Tongue has been given the nod here instead of Woakes. As well as being a feel-good story, given that Tongue was contemplating retirement not that long ago because of a troublesome shoulder injury, it is an understandable decision.
Tongue is quicker than anyone else in the squad at Lord’s this week, with the exception of Wood. While not express pace, he hits the pitch and the splice of the bat hard, and is among the quickest half-dozen bowlers in English domestic cricket over the past two years. Woakes is a known quantity and utterly reliable; Tongue’s temperament for the big occasion is unknown and this is a good chance to find out a little more. Rather now, than for the first time in the Ashes. The uncertainty over Stokes’s knee is uncertainty enough.
Originally published as Ashes: Ben Stokes’ fitness may be the deciding factor for England’s Ashes hopes