“The worst bit was hearing the noise,” says Ben Stokes, recalling the moment he flew through the air in Sharjah to attempt what would have been a breathtaking diving catch, only to hit the turf with the weight of his body going through his right shoulder. “I felt sick for 10 minutes afterwards and that did not sit well with the physio and the doctor. They thought I’d broken it.”
Thankfully for the all-rounder, as well as an England management plotting the downfall of South Africa either side of New Year, the crunch produced when he hit the turf in the third Test with Pakistan earlier this month would prove not to be as instructive as first feared; no break or dislocation was suffered, with scans later showing he had merely damaged the acromioclavicular joint, where the shoulder meets the collarbone.
Stokes tested out the injury at the national academy in Loughborough last week and was encouraged by the results. Both bowling off one pace and throwing a few balls were possible and, while rehabilitation continues, he is now confident he will be fit for the first Test in Durban, which starts on Boxing Day, with the aim to be netting normally when the tour gets under way on 11 December.
Whether he continues to throw himself around in the field – his all‑action approach has led to the head coach, Trevor Bayliss, describing him as a maniac, as he produces wonder catches such as the one that lit up the Trent Bridge Test during the summer – remains to be seen. Having once had to undergo three operations on a broken finger, the 24-year-old admits the true challenge in recovering from such knocks comes in forgetting they occurred in the first place.
“This injury is one of those that could affect how I field. With my finger, it took a long time to get back to feeling confident in catching and with the shoulder, it does affect how I dive for the ball. I have to find a way of getting the confidence back. But I know that when I get back to playing, the adrenaline and my competitiveness will take over.”
That latter trait will be needed in spades when Alastair Cook’s side take on the world’s No1 Test team on their home patch, doing so without three of their Ashes winners after the fast bowlers Mark Wood and Steven Finn were ruled out through injury and Ian Bell’s inability to get past one on nine occasions in 22 innings persuaded the selectors to look elsewhere for runs.
“It’s sad to see someone like Belly not be on tour,” says Stokes, who was similarly hooked from the stage in 2014, only to bounce back this year. “Everyone goes through bad form but it does end. I was surprised [that Bell missed out] because the experience he has and the fact we are going to South Africa; it will make him a big miss. But he’s too good not to come back. He has scored so many runs and I’d be very surprised if he doesn’t play for England again.”
Despite the enforced absence of his Durham team-mate Wood, who had surgery on Monday in a bid to end longstanding pain in his left ankle, and Finn, given more time to recover from the early signs of a bone stress fracture in October, Stokes is convinced of England’s depth in the seam department and believes conditions in South Africa offer more hope of springing an upset than those faced during the 2-0 defeat to Pakistan.
“South Africa is more suited to us as a team and me as a player,” he explains. “There’s more bounce in the wickets and we will be facing quicker bowling; that’s where my strengths lie as a batsman. I think we have got a very good chance against South Africa. England have been through a transition period and they are the No1 team in the world but we can compete and our confidence is high.”
Since his dismissal in Sharjah three weeks ago – stumped off the leg-spinner Yasir Shah to wrap up a 127-run defeat as he swung away from No11 defiantly in a haze of painkillers – Stokes has watched from home as the one-day team continued their upward curve since the group stage exit at the World Cup, with a 3-1 series victory against Pakistan.
Jos Buttler’s 46-ball century in Dubai last Friday, his own response to being dropped from the Test side, gave the all-rounder particular pleasure. “Jos is not an emotional bloke but you saw what it meant to him. You go through lean patches but his hard work has paid off,” says Stokes.
“The one-day team has stayed largely the same since the start of the summer and it’s good to see, rather than chopping and changing in search of a formula. If you think what we have accomplished [since the World Cup], then imagine what is to come in two or three years’ time.”
Is it time the Test team, still in search of an opening partner for Cook, reliable middle-order runs beyond Joe Root and a locked-in wicketkeeper, did the same? “We shouldn’t be too critical of players if they do have lean patches. If we do what we have done with the one-day team – keeping a group together and the dressing room stays the same – then we’ll benefit.”
Overall, Stokes is buoyant about the Test team’s chances of rising up from the sixth place in the ICC rankings that resulted from their defeat in the United Arab Emirates, with Bayliss, who began his reign as head coach just 13 days before the Ashes in July, one of the main reasons behind this optimism. Sledging the Australian during their initial exchanges was the acid test.
“I played golf with him in our training camp in Spain before the Ashes and I got him straight away. I took the mickey a little bit – he’s a good player but I was telling him he was rubbish – and didn’t know if he was getting it … but I later found out he enjoyed the craic.
“It’s very simple under Trevor, he doesn’t do too much talking – I can’t listen to anyone for more than 15 minutes or I get bored – and he has let Cooky do more of it, which maybe he didn’t so much in the past. I don’t think his captaincy changed [under Bayliss] but he has just chilled out a bit and stopped worrying so much about things.
“Trevor walked into the job and won the Ashes so it’s an easy job from there, isn’t it? Everyone likes his approach and I think he likes working with us. So I can see it lasting a long time, hopefully.”
Ben Stokes is a global ambassador for New Balance
