Ben Stokes could stride into the Champions Trophy semi-final on Wednesday believing himself to be invincible at present but the England all-rounder has said he is not the type to get carried away with his performances; unsatisfied, he will continue striving to reach new levels.
Having bounced Australia out of the tournament exit door at Edgbaston with his career-best unbeaten 102, as Eoin Morgan’s side made it three wins from three in the group stage, Stokes underlined his status as the player all other teams covet and added more clout to the argument that we are witnessing a once‑in-a-generation cricketer.
Stokes himself, however, is trying to ignore the hype even though the Indian captain, Virat Kohli, used social media on Saturday to laud a four through the covers off the generally brutalised Pat Cummins – with a break of the wrists to add some deliberate slice – as the best shot he has seen in a long time.
“I just shut it out,” Stokes said. “You can do well one day and then not do well the other and you are not as good as everyone says. You just keep your feet on the floor. I never feel I get too high and I never feel I get too low about things. Everyone else may deal with things like that differently but that is just how I go about it.
“I am always trying to get better as a player, no matter how things are going, always trying to expand my game and look into how I can hit more areas or bowl different balls or whatever it is. I’m always looking to learn and am never happy with how I am going. I think once you get comfortable with what you are offering it is dangerous territory to be in.”
Lending itself to this level-headedness is the fact that England’s 40-run win by Duckworth–Lewis–Stern method – set up by the wonderful counterattacking stand of 159 from 35 for three with Morgan – was the first time Stokes has struck three‑figures in a one-day international run chase, with his second innings average going into the match just 20 from 24 innings with one half-century.
There was a point during his innings in the 70s where Stokes admitted his “beans were going” a bit and, upon recognising this could lead to his downfall, decided to throttle things back a touch and reset himself once more. Such an acknowledgment is one aspect to the 26-year-old’s game that has developed over the past year, not least during his subcontinental winter.
The Indian Premier League is getting much of the praise here and it would be ignoring the evidence to say there were no benefits, such as an acclimatisation to pressure-cooker stadiums, coping with the expectation of being the tournament’s most expensive overseas signing at £1.7m and gleaning advice from the masala of world-class players on offer.
Steve Smith, the Australia captain who led Stokes at Rising Pune Supergiant, may now regret being one of those who offered some help. “He just gave a little tip out in India, something on my technique, something that he felt could help me with,” Stokes said. “I was losing my backside a bit when I was hitting.
“The whole thing with the IPL is the exposure you get to big moments in games playing in front of a huge crowd all the time. In situations like 35 for three [against Australia] you can just mentally look back to a time in the past and reflect on that and also take confidence in knowing that you have been in that situation before and done well.”
Such a situation arose when Stokes struck his maiden IPL hundred from 10 for three last month in a match against Gujarat Lions, and winning the tournament’s MVP award in his first season was also a significant (and certainly will not be come next year’s auction) achievement. The experience, according to the England’s one-day batting coach, Graham Thorpe, has added an extra edge to a player who was already among the most diligent.
“He would have felt pressure going over there but there is something different about him now,” Thorpe said. “He wasn’t lacking in confidence before – in a nice way, not arrogance – but maybe it’s a belief, from being around those types of players, that he belongs.
“Him and Joe Root hit the most balls I’ve seen among young players over the years. You might be able to give them advice but they look to develop their own games. Ben has always been powerful but he’s adding new elements to his game. He’s very good at self-exploring. When he started, he hit a lot of balls and had fun but now he’s really consolidated his basics, too.”
For all the benefits Stokes felt from the IPL, the tournament is not cricket’s all‑healing grotto at Lourdes if Jason Roy’s returns since a largely unused spell with Gujarat – 51 runs in eight one-day innings that see Jonny Bairstow in line for the semi-final – are considered.
Thorpe said: “I think it can go one way or the other. It can be a great experience but there is another side. We have a player who maybe didn’t go there and play every game. That’s sport and life though, he could well go back next year and have a really positive experience.”
Roy will hope that his recent funk does not see him miss out when the Twenty20 squad to face South Africa at the end of the month is named on Monday. Stokes and Root are expected to be given a breather before the Tests in July, with Dawid Malan, Liam Livingstone and Sam Northeast among those who could feature.
