Ben Stokes left Edgbaston with praise from both captains ringing in his ears following the destructive unbeaten 102 that sees England head into their Champions Trophy semi-final on Wednesday glowing with confidence and Australia on the next plane home.
Stokes, in registering his third one-day hundred, continued a rich run of form that has carried through from his time in the Indian Premier League.
The Rising Pune Supergiants made him the tournament’s most expensive overseas player with a £1.7m deal but for his national team captain, the all-rounder is priceless.
“His potential is through the roof,” said Eoin Morgan, whose 87 helped pile on 159 with Stokes for the fourth wicket. “His batting was exceptional. He was very calm with the crease, very relaxed and all those games he’s played really came to the fore.
“He was outstanding. I think the IPL auction proved [his value]. He’s always looking to influence the game, with bat, ball or in the field.”
Australia’s Steve Smith, who captained Stokes in IPL, said: “I don’t like to put tags on guys but he’s a fantastic player and getting better. He played a fantastic innings, took the game on and was hard to stop. He’s an incredibly strong lad and hits the ball very hard – those are the kind of things you want in white ball cricket.
“I think he’s probably developed some smarts and the timing of his innings. I’m sure the more he plays, the better he’ll get. He’s in exceptional form at the moment.”
On his team’s exit following two washouts against New Zealand and Bangladesh before this rain-affected loss, Smith said: “I thought we let ourselves down a little bit today. When you’re playing in a big tournament for your country, you need to step up and get the job done. We weren’t able to do that on this occasion.”
Morgan credited his bowlers for keeping Australia to 277 for nine, Mark Wood and Adil Rashid picking up four wickets apiece. It is something that has given the captain greater belief that he could be lifting the trophy at The Oval next Sunday.
He said: “The last two games, we’ve proved that we can peg sides back regardless of where they’re at going into the last 15 overs, which probably two years ago was a bit of a car crash for us. So that’s a huge improvement. And our batting just seems to thrive.”
Morgan also said Jason Roy’s position will now be reviewed before Wednesday’s semi-final in Cardiff after 51 runs from eight innings this summer. Jonny Bairstow, who has opened previously for Yorkshire but not at international level, is waiting in the wings.
“It’s unfortunate that Jason didn’t get runs today. We’re obviously three games in and we’ll take a couple of days to have a look at what our best team is for the semi-final. We revisit it every game – everybody’s position,” he added.
