Ben Stokes narrows the gap between England and Australia

England allrounder Ben Stokes genuinely brings other players into the contest

No form of cricket journalism feels quite so unnecessary as the Ashes preview. The Ashes predates and will outlive us all. It is the proverbial next guest who needs no introduction.

England in Australia? That’s a particularly familiar sub-genre: the challenge of swapping from Duke to Kookaburra, adapting from low-bouncing pitches to high, even moving from cricket grounds in England to what in Australia are now almost all football grounds on which some cricket is played. These are perennial issues, even before you get to the historical precedents.

England hasn’t won a Test in this country for more than a decade, hasn’t won in Brisbane since 1986, and has not started a series as favourite since 1978.

Many traditional related factors bear down on Joe Root’s squad. Pace has been a determining factor in previous Ashes, and two of England’s three fastest bowlers, Jofra Archer and Olly Stone, are injured.

Cricket in Australia is likewise no country for old men. Australians looked askance when winter-pale 42-year-old Colin Cowdrey was sent to reinforce beleaguered England in 1974-75; James Anderson, in his fortieth year, is already here.

England won down under in 2010-11 with Anderson in his pomp playing every Test, taking the top off Australia’s batting as easily as a man scalping a boiled egg.

Andrew Strauss also had world-class batting in its prime (Cook, Pietersen, Trott, Bell), a first-rate slow bowler (Swann), a hard-driving coach (Andy Flower), and played four full-dress first-class matches en route to Brisbane.

None of this applies to 2021-22. Anderson will be cautiously deployed. Root has … Root. Coach Chris Silverwood is a mild-mannered backroom boy.

And that part of every Ashes preview usually required to deal with the visitors’ preparation for the First Test, who is in form and out, who is fit and otherwise, is here entirely superfluous, there being nothing to describe save some intrasquad centre wicket practice behind the Covid cordon.

Flower’s precursor Duncan Fletcher had this line about it being better to be underdone than overcooked at the top of a series. But his coaching record in Australia was one win and nine defeats, and it hardly bodes well that England will go into day one at the Gabba as raw as sushi.

Is this starting to dampen your spirits? Me too a bit. So let’s see if we can’t conjure up some grounds for optimism. These probably condense to two words: Ben Stokes.

Stokes was not here four years ago, which left the team short of batting, bowling and belief.

He is an outsize cricketer and character. Many virtuoso all-rounders have built great records. Stokes feels a little different, like a cricketer who genuinely brings others into the contest, perhaps by general demeanour, perhaps by providing that little extra reinforcement in each department of the game that frees up others.

No cricketer may ever play a Test like Stokes at Headingley in 2019 again. The pyrotechnics of the last day have been replayed numberless times, including regularly, Australia’s coach admitted last week, in Justin Langer’s head.

Langer also referred, rightfully, to what preceded that innings: Stokes’ second-innings bowling as Australia threatened to storm off with the game after bundling England out for 67.

The analysis of three for 56 conveys nothing of the purpose and hostility of those two-dozen overs, bowled more or less consecutively from the Kirkstall Lane end. Back and back he came. It grew almost possible to believe it was Australia under pressure. Stokes did something rare indeed: he made the Test feel different before it actually was.

The England Cricket Board has not got much right lately, or even almost anything. But its patient and humane response to Stokes’s travails this year has been praiseworthy. He seems here of his own volition, with proper reinforcement and consideration.

Root’s words four months ago when Stokes took his mental health break also spoke well of both men: “From my point of view, I just want my friend to be OK. Anyone who knows Ben, he always puts other people first. Now is an opportunity for him to put himself first, to take time to look after himself and get to a good place again.”

“He is in a good place at the moment,” affirmed Silverwood last week. ”It’s great for the game of cricket that Ben Stokes is playing Ashes cricket,” agreed his Australian counterpart. There is a limit to the capabilities of any one cricketer in a game’s 22, but Stokes narrows the gap that never ceased to yawn between these sides in 2017-18.

In their own conditions, Australia are far more the known quantity, their XI settled as early as Sunday, their captain, vice-captain and keeper already looking snugly aligned despite the sorry circumstances of their respective advances. The Test averages of the top six on their own pitches come to more than 300. In other words, they need only maintain existing standards for their team to post formidable scores.

Since England last won here, moreover, Australia has played 53 home Tests, won 36 and lost only eight. Two of these were last season, including at the Gabba, but that hardly disturbs the underlying trend.

For Root, Stokes et al to compete will require something very special — but, of course, that is what we embrace the Ashes for. And having drawn attention to the rather routinised nature of Ashes previews, one should admit their consolation: that they are out of date the instant the first ball is bowled.