Joe Root is rarely as effusive with praise as he was when talking about Ben Stokes last night.
“Mr Incredible”; “at the peak of his powers, at the peak of world cricket”; “we are in the presence of greatness”. When asked if he felt a lucky captain to have such a presence in his team, Root said: “I don’t really know what else to say apart from yes.”
The question is no longer whether Stokes will be remembered as a great English cricketer. Having sailed close to the wind at times, he sorted all that out last summer and has been riding the wave ever since.
Stokes’s career now has two distinct periods, divided by the mid-point of a restorative winter in 2018-2019 when, perhaps coincidentally, he had his back completely covered in a tattoo of a pride of lions representing his family and his hair began to get thicker again, which often seems to happen to cricketers in their late twenties.
Before then, he was a player who had great moments — innings, spells, catches — and sometimes even great games. But he was not consistent. His numbers reflected that: he averaged 33.7 with the bat and 32.7 with the ball.
In 2017, he had appeared to be coming out of this period — and then the Bristol nightclub incident happened.
After missing the Ashes, 2018 was a bitty year, with court cases and injury issues, but he has come good in spectacular fashion since the start of 2019.
In 16 Tests, he has averaged 55 with the bat and under 29 with the ball, winning four man-of-the-match awards. You may remember that last summer he went well in one-day internationals, too.
Stokes, as evidenced at Old Trafford, is the complete all-round package, able to perform roles with the bat from blocker to biffer, and as a bowler, from lavish swinger to partnership-breaking battering ram, all to suit the needs of the team.
Today, he went to No3 in the Test batting rankings and No1 in the all-rounder list. Root is confident that he can keep getting better, and he is right, because Stokes’s brilliance is not just built on talent and charisma, but graft and a fine cricketing brain. The question now is whether England will ever fashion a Test team worthy of him?
Stokes debuted in 2013, as a great team fell apart. As he found his feet, England were poor, winning just six of his first 19 Tests. Since then — and to this day — England have largely been attacking and inconsistent, much like Stokes in the early part of his career.
Root, Stokes and Chris Silverwood have spoken plenty about the project they are building, with the 2021-22 Ashes the target. Before then, they are due to play five Tests against India, at home and away. That period, with Stokes in his prime, will be a fine yardstick for him and the team, but to get anything from it, the collective will have to undergo the same improvement the individual has.
England have much to solve — questions remain about the wicketkeeper and spinner and the top order remains callow — but clearly something is stirring. As the captain pointed out, they have made 400 in the first innings three times in their last four matches. They have a battery of fast bowlers, creating the sort of “tough” selection dilemmas Root says they should “celebrate”; another of those looms in a big way this week. There were four 22-year-olds in this XI and other impressionable youngsters waiting in the wings.
It seems no coincidence that all three centuries Dom Sibley and Ollie Pope have scored have come in big stands with Stokes, and that Zak Crawley has made his highest Test score with him at the crease, too. It is not just Sibley that was inspired to get fitter after seeing Stokes training on tour, but Pope, too.
There is a long-term plan in place that may come to fruition. But perhaps the best chance of a great England team emerging is Stokes just dragging 10 others with him.
