Australia face an uncomfortable reversal of roles ahead of Ashes

Historically, Australia has liked to imagine itself as the global pacesetter in global cricket. But under Ben Stokes’s ‘new agey edge’, England has stolen our thunder.

England captain Ben Stokes celebrates with his team Picture: Getty Images

Test cricket, bloody hell. Always endangered, always in its winding sheet. But somehow always just a match away from the extreme, the stupendous, the downright moving.

Only two Tests have swelled with more runs in Test history than the 1768 scored by England and Pakistan in Rawalpindi these last five days; both those had been stalemates. This match hurtled along at 4.5 runs an over, with England plundering 921 runs from 821 balls.

Early on it looked like a rerun of Australia’s Pindi Test in March, where 14 wickets fell for 1187 runs in five interminable days. But the rapidity of England’s runmaking had in mind the pursuit of enough time at the end to force a result – a result, moreover, one way or other, because England’s captain Ben Stokes, importantly, was also prepared to court defeat in order to seek victory.

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From 28.5 overs in the penultimate session of day four, England ransacked 218 ahead of a tactically tantalising tea time declaration, allowing also for the rapid onset of dusk in these parts. If Pakistan could make 344 in four sessions, Stokes reasoned, they would deserve their win.

Nasser Hussain, who knows a thing or two, has called it the best five days of captaincy he’s ever seen. To make inroads, Stokes himself took the new ball, which he proceeded to pound into the otherwise unresponsive surface, getting his counterpart Babar Azam caught at the wicket.

Needing to prise out five wickets in the last session, Stokes first stuck with an old ball that had begun to swing reverse, then obtained the last wicket by entrusting the new ball to a slow bowler. Daylight sputtered out ten minutes after England’s 74-run triumph. Incredible: that a game taking so long can conclude with seconds counting down.

But maybe we should be getting used to it. Nobody anywhere has been playing cricket like England these last six months, winning seven out of eight Tests against India, New Zealand, South Africa and now Pakistan with an adventurous, crusading zeal.

“That’s personally how I think Test cricket should be played,” Stokes said in the aftermath last night.

“Test cricket is something that needs to be looked after. It’s the pinnacle of cricket that everybody wants to play.”

Into the bargain, England has also added a T20 World Cup to their 50-over World Cup.

What’s going on? As he began growing into his talent about five years ago, Stokes was often bracketed with Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff – cricketers of explosive power and mercurial brilliance.

England's players celebrate after the dismissal of Pakistan's Salman Ali Agha (not pictured) during the fifth and final day of the first Test in Rawalpindi Picture: AFP

But their charisma notwithstanding, neither Botham nor Flintoff succeeded as a captain: in fact, the promotion nullified their all-round capabilities. In England, there remained a kind of officer-class tradition of leadership. Botham was counterpointed by cerebral Mike Brearley, Flintoff succeeded by suave Andrew Strauss.

Ben Stokes’s appointment in May, then, was a departure – a departure born of desperation. England had won one Test in 17 under hapless Joe Root, for a phase of which Stokes had been missing, afflicted by a fugue of fatigue, injury and depression.

The England Cricket Board then went looking for a complementary coach, suited to Stokes’ vision of a more expansive, more forgiving approach to cricket. And although it’s been called ‘Bazball’ in the honour of coach Brendon McCullum, it’s really ‘Benbash’, cast in the image of the captain, based on an absolute commitment to the whole, with the only wrong move anything that savours of selfishness or defensiveness.

Tours have gone off the rails under circumstances like those pertaining last week, when England was so ravaged by illness that it was not even clear the Pindi Test would start on time. Already deprived by injury of their two fastest bowlers, Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, and their batter of the year, Jonny Bairstow, they now lost their keeper Ben Foakes and, in the course of the match, Liam Livingston to a tour-ending knee injury in the field.

No problem. Number three Ollie Pope filled in as keeper, and complemented a rapid hundred with seven dismissals. All-rounder Will Jacks, who had previously taken 21 first-class wickets at more than 50, claimed six-for on debut. Both are 24. “At the moment,’ said Stokes with satisfaction last night, “it feels like everyone is doing what they need to do for the bloke that’s stood next to them.”

Fun times, then; also, perhaps, a challenge to Australian amour propre. Historically, we have liked to imagine ourselves the pacesetter in global cricket. We’re always about “taking the game on” and “entertaining the crowd”, frequently in contradistinction to our erstwhile colonial masters. Suddenly there is a hint of an Ashes next year with traditional roles reversed: the prospect is certainly more enticing than seemed likely in January.

Confusingly, too, at least for some in this parish, Stokes as captain has a new agey edge. He has been forthright on the subject of mental wellbeing, drawn attention to his team’s “diversity” as a strength, and was eager for England to take the knee when West Indies introduced the practice in 2020: “I feel as a team that we have an opportunity to send a real powerful message. I am really excited as an individual, and the team is really excited that we are able to be a part of that.”

None of which seems to have distracted anyone or been interpreted as signalling a virtue. Funny old game, eh? Also fabulous to watch.