Even indefatigable spirits can be broken, even warriors sometimes have had enough, it would appear. Nearly a decade and a half after first gracing the world stage, Ben Stokes, the superman, finally decided enough was enough, with a dramatic, stunning announcement even as the deciding Test against New Zealand was poised on a knife’s edge.
England’s Test captain, that powerful, compelling, unignorable sweeping force of nature, exits the international arena, perhaps shattered by the brouhaha over the last few weeks of his nocturnal dalliance, along with Gus Atkinson, after his team had overcome the Kiwis at the Oval earlier this month. By breaking a curfew that he himself had been part of the group that had brought into effect – his claim that he thought the midnight deadline didn’t apply because the Test had already ended has polarised opinion – the 35-year-old added another chapter to a tempestuous career marked by more-than-normal high-profile controversies, including being charged with affray (of which he was later cleared) after a brawl outside a Bristol nightclub in September 2017, following an ODI against West Indies.
It’s a shame that Stokes has had to bid adieu in such unfortunate circumstances – he was made unavailable for selection for the second Test at Lord’s which his side lost under Joe Root because for all the long list of intemperate behaviour, Stokes was a magnificent competitor who didn’t know how to operate outside of the highest gear.
A career blighted by numerous injuries, several of them unrelated and some – such as being struck in the face while standing at the nets during a Durham training stint earlier this year – freakish, is still a career of extraordinary peaks, dotted by an outrageously ridiculous number of scarcely believable performances. Those deeds elevated him to the level of that other maverick English all-rounder, Ian Botham. Like Botham, Stokes could decide the outcome of a game of cricket with bat alone, with ball alone, in the field alone, or by combining all three facets to devastating effect.
History will eventually judge him by numbers, and they are anything but journeyman-like. More than 7,000 runs (four centuries including a screaming highest of 258 in Cape Town in 2016) and 246 wickets in 121 Tests, complemented by an average of 41.22 at a strike-rate of 95.68 and 74 wickets from 114 ODIs, more than made up for a middling T20I tryst. But Stokes’ brilliance, bloody-mindedness, never-say-die attitude and the heart of a champion comprehensively outshone his remarkable on-field achievements.
Even before he succeeded Root as the Test captain in the summer of 2022, Stokes had established himself as his team’s go-to man, the foot soldier for a crisis. His exceptional unbeaten 84 at Lord’s in 2019 was singularly responsible for England pushing the World Cup final against New Zealand to the Super Over. The legend of Stokes, already larger than life, seemed to have touched the ultimate peak after England lifted the trophy on boundary countback, but who knew at the time that an even more miraculous flourish was weeks away.
A giant of the game!
A little over a month after the World Cup triumph, England trailed Australia 0-1 with three to play when the teams travelled to Headingley. The Aussies called the shots for more than three days; needing 359 to square the series, England were out for the count at 286 for nine when Jack Leach, the uncelebrated No. 11, joined Stokes. In a fairytale passage of play that lasted only 62 deliveries but seemed like several lifetimes, the bruising left-hander destroyed Australia. Leach faced only 17 balls while Stokes, unfettered and liberated, went on the rampage, finishing unbeaten on 135 as he bossed the decisive stand of 76 for the last wicket. If Stokes had thrown his hat in the ring at the end of that series which ended all square, England wouldn’t have had four Prime Ministers in the last seven years, of that there is little doubt.
Stokes didn’t just provide colour and drama and flair and thrill to the fans, he also brought steel and spunk and grim determination to go with his unalloyed flamboyance to the English set-up. Often, his electric skills with the ball were forgotten because of his industry and his relentless perseverance – such as bowling ten overs on the trot, bashing the ball into a dead pitch, on an intensely hot day with the batters in full command – but Stokes seldom coveted the limelight. That he didn’t have to, because how can you ignore such a commanding figure, is another matter altogether. Stokes was still always one of the boys, not a standoffish, imperial presence though his cricket was nothing if not imperious.
England will miss him terribly, especially when the going is not good and the skipper is looking for a slice of inspiration. But world cricket will miss him more because they don’t make men like Ben Stokes any longer. More’s the pity.
