Ashes 2023: Ben Stokes can do it all – apart from mask team’s failings

Ben Stokes hits a six into the Tavern Stand on Sunday. Picture: Getty Images.

This country has produced many great cricketers over the years. Has there ever been a player, though, whose competitive instincts have shone as brightly as they do from Ben Stokes? Has there even been a player with such an indomitable will to win and whose never-say-die spirit has been so evident? It was all on show again at Lord’s yesterday during an innings those lucky enough to be there will not forget in a hurry.

While he was in the middle, breathing life into a team that had gifted away a huge advantage on the toss and conditions, all was not lost. His 13th Test hundred had echoes of his match-winning century at Headingley four years ago, and another miracle looked on the cards for a while. Ultimately, though, it lacked the validation of a win and his team must do what no team in the Ashes have done since the days of Don Bradman and come back from 2-0 down.

For Australia, the flashbacks to Headingley four years ago must have been frequent. There was no Tim Paine, of course, no Nathan Lyon and no Justin Langer to kick the dustbin from its moorings in the dressing room, but many of the rest of the cast were the same and, for a while, especially when Australia’s fielding began to disintegrate under pressure either side of lunch, with Steve Smith of all people dropping a simple catch, the similarities were all too obvious.

Ben Stokes speaks to Pat Cummins after play. Picture: Getty Images.

But it was not to be. Stokes made a brilliant 155, hitting more sixes in an Ashes innings than anyone has hit before, but when he was dismissed in the 73rd over England were still 70 runs short of their target and all the belief seemed to drain from them in an instant. Having defended stoutly for two hours, bits chipped off him from the number of short balls aimed at his body, Stuart Broad succumbed two overs after Stokes, leaving the last pair with too much to do.

It was only four years ago that Lord’s witnessed its most incredible match in the World Cup final but it would be fair to say that the old ground has never witnessed an atmosphere quite like it at a Test match. A normal atmosphere at Lord’s would resemble a polite English tea party, but the place became febrile after the dismissal of Jonny Bairstow in the morning and the Australia players were booed from the pitch at lunch, booed as they made their way through the Long Room – MCC made a formal apology afterwards – and were booed relentlessly after the last ball was bowled.

The spark that lit the fuse was the stumping of Bairstow to the last ball of the 52nd over when, having ducked a short ball from Cameron Green, he wandered out of his ground as Alex Carey, the wicketkeeper, underarmed the ball to throw the wickets down. The umpires had not called “over”, the ball was not considered dead by Australia and Bairstow was duly given out stumped. It was the kind of attempted dismissal that is ten-a-penny in league cricket, although the crowd, losing any sense of reason, did not like it one bit and did not let Pat Cummins and his players forget it.

After the match, Stokes invoked the “Spirit of Cricket” and suggested that his team would not have been keen to win the match in such a way. Sporting a black eye after an earlier misfield that suitably reflected the nature of the contest, and speaking through a crescendo of boos at the post-match ceremony, Cummins said the dismissal was a fair one and at no stage thought of revoking the appeal and calling back Bairstow. There was certainly no requirement for him to do so. The Spirit of Cricket does not come into it.

Neither umpire had called “over” and Carey did not hesitate before releasing the ball. Bairstow had tapped his back foot in and then wandered out of his ground assuming the ball to be dead. The law states: “The ball shall be considered to be dead when it is clear to the bowler’s end umpire that the fielding side and both batters at the wicket have ceased to regard it as in play.” It was a dozy bit of cricket from Bairstow to allow Carey the opportunity and reflected much of the flabby cricket played by England in this match.

Marais Erasmus, the third umpire, gave a correct interpretation of the law, as he had the previous evening when adjudicating a claim for a catch from Mitchell Starc. In that instance, Starc had grounded the ball before being in control of his movement, to howls of protest from Australians. Now it was the turn of England’s supporters to cry foul, but Erasmus was right in both instances and both players were guilty of sloppy thinking.

The stumping was the second piece of intuitive thinking in the morning by Carey, who had positioned himself slightly down the leg side to catch Ben Duckett, dismissed hooking for the second time in the match, seven overs earlier. With Duckett, initially, and then Bairstow for company, Stokes had played in a relatively restrained manner but the sight of Broad walking to the middle encouraged him to change tack. Broad played his part, too, in rousing the crowd to anger.

That the wicketkeeper had done nothing wrong was clear enough, but Broad told him “that’s all you’ll ever be remembered for” and was soon involved in animated conversations with Marnus Labuschagne, David Warner and Cummins. Never one to let a good row die down, Broad exaggerated staying his ground at the end of each over (oh, had Bairstow done the same) and soon the crowd were in full flow, chanting: “Same old Aussies, always cheating.”

Stokes now moved from first gear to fifth in the blink of an eye. He ripped into Green, taking three consecutive sixes in the 56th over, the third of which, a towering effort, brought up his hundred. As Australia continued to bowl into his arc, Stokes peppered the leg side with some enormous blows, while at the same time protecting Broad from the strike as best he could. It was Headingley all over again, with Australia discombobulated to the extent that their quick-thinking deserted them: they continually fed Stokes to the shorter side, down the slope to the Tavern Stand.

The atmosphere in the ground was wild at that point, more akin to Melbourne than Lord’s, and that Australia were thankful lunch was called could be seen from the sight of Cummins tying his shoelaces to run down the clock in the final over of the session. Stokes went to lunch on 108, the target 128 runs away.

That the break had done little to calm Australian nerves was clear four balls afterwards, when Smith put down a simple catch off Stokes running in from square leg, and then when Carey put down a much more difficult chance down the leg side without further addition to the score. The hundred partnership arrived, with Stokes having contributed 86, but eventually Australia found a way to bring some order, by bowling wider of off stump and encouraging Stokes to hit through the off side.

Stokes went past 150 – his hundred runs between 50 and 150 coming in only 98 balls – but lost some fluency as Australia pitched wide of his off stump. Eventually, aiming another mighty blow, he skyed Josh Hazlewood to Carey and stood motionless for a while, unable to believe perhaps that he had not produced a miracle again. Australia’s players congratulated him and the ground rose to applaud another magnificent innings. What Stokes’s innings could not do, though, was camouflage his team’s earlier failings.

From winning a good toss, England had the better of the conditions and failed to take advantage of the calf injury to Lyon that will surely put him out of the rest of the series. Conceding 416 was too many on first innings and then declining from 188 for one to 325, in perfect batting conditions with Australia a man down, was where the match was lost. The Spirit of Cricket had nothing to do with England’s defeat.

The Times