By Phil Lutton
There has been any number of reasons for Justin Langer to lose sleep in recent weeks, especially given the tumultuous circumstances of the departure of his captain and close friend Tim Paine.
Yet it has been another cricketer invading his dreams at night: Ben Stokes, the brilliant England all-rounder whose presence in Australia has heightened anticipation before the first Test arrives on Wednesday in Brisbane.
For a time, it wasn’t clear whether Stokes would travel at all after he took a break from the game due to mental health concerns. He hasn’t played Test cricket since March but remains a cult figure in England on the back of his heroics at Headingly in 2019.
With England bowled out for a miserly 67 in the first innings and the match looking all but over, Stokes produced a game-changing spell of bowling in Australia’s second innings, then whacked an unbeaten 135 to propel England to a famous Ashes triumph.
Whether he can regain that sort of touch in Australia remains to be seen. As Langer said time and again on Saturday, “time will tell”.
But the Australia coach understands the value of having Stokes in the touring party from a whole-of-game perspective and will never forget seeing Stokes hoist the English side on his back to level the series in Leeds two-and-a-half years ago.
Australia coach Justin Langer says he still has nightmares about the 2019 Headingley Test, in which Ben Stokes led England to an unlikely victory.Credit: Getty
“He’s a great cricketer, no doubt about that,” Langer said. “I still have nightmares about his innings in the third Test. I probably have more nightmares about his spell on day three of that game.
“He’s an unbelievable athlete, a great competitor and it’s great for the game of cricket that Ben Stokes is playing Ashes cricket.
“We all love it. It’s an Ashes summer and it probably wouldn’t be the same without the best players. Hopefully, his health is good, we welcome him out here because he’s one of the superstars of the game.”
Stokes took 2-31 and made an unbeaten 42 (56 balls) during the practice match against the touring England Lions during the week, which represented his first semi-competitive match since July and his first time facing and delivering the red ball in almost 10 months.
He bowled with sharp pace in sweltering conditions at Ian Healy Oval and had the Lions batters taking evasive action from his short bowling on more than one occasion. But it was his energy in the field, one of the great intangibles of cricket, that was evident to the smattering of fans watching at the suburban ground in Brisbane’s inner-north.
Langer also said the Australians would be well prepared for the questions asked by England’s veteran pace duo of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad, who will again by at the vanguard of their seam attack in an Ashes campaign.
Broad made light of the limited preparation when he spoke during the week, saying he felt being fresh was preferable to having too many miles in the legs and overs in the bank ahead of a five-Test summer crammed into a tight and yet to be finalised schedule.
“They are great bowlers, great bowlers, no two ways about that,” Langer said. “We’ll show them respect. They’ve also got some other good bowlers coming through as well – I think [Ollie] Robinson looks a real handful. They have some talent. We respect that but we’ll be ready for it.”
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