Opinion: Stokes is class but can’t be England’s one-man band forever
Yes, winning matters. It always will. But spare a thought for England captain Ben Stokes who, despite being on the losing side in the second Ashes Test to go down to Australia 2-0 in the series, hit one of the all-time great individual innings yesterday.
With England on the ropes – as they were at Headingley in 2019 – up stepped the middle order all-rounder, a man for all of the big moments.
He hasn’t always got it right – one drunken night in Bristol and a crippling over in a World Cup final in 2016 will tell you that – but when he does there’s nothing like it.
Stokes stoked
The Headingley rescue, the champagne super over in the 2019 World Cup final and yesterday’s fifth day heroics.
His 155 will go down in history as being on the losing side of the scorecard but it said everything about where England want to be at the moment.
Remember pre-Bazball England were on a run of one win in 17? Now they’re on a run of 10 in 14. Yes, they’re losing in the Ashes – where it matters most – but they’re not being humiliated yet.
Stokes is synonymous with Bazball but he is not a one-man team – and neither are England.
And the best in the business see Stokes’ ability. Virat Kohli said: “I wasn’t joking about calling Ben Stokes the most competitive bloke I’ve played against. Innings of the highest quality.”
But sometimes that is not enough and one man cannot save a team.
The Ashes continues on Thursday in Leeds, where the last Ashes Test at Headingley provided one of the great Stokes moments. But for his own sake, we should be hoping it’s not all left to him – in victory or defeat – once again.