Concentration is something Ben Stokes claims not to have been born with but, after playing the longest innings of his professional career in conditions that had previously been alien to him, the usually hard-hitting all-rounder is demonstrating what significant progress he has made in this department.
Before the start of the trip to Bangladesh in October, Stokes had found Asia a struggle. In 13 innings across all formats, the 25-year-old averaged only 13.8 with the bat and had one half-century to his name. But over the past six weeks there is strong evidence to suggest that a new player is emerging in these parts.
The 128 he compiled over almost five hours at the crease during the draw with India in Rajkot last week – the first time he has faced more than 200 balls in a professional innings – followed on from both the 85 that set up England’s victory in the first Test in Bangladesh and the hundred in the opening one-day international in Dhaka that ushered in this subcontinental winter.
Key to this was the injury-enforced spell spent playing as a specialist batsman at the end of England’s international summer, which allowed Stokes time to work on his defence against spin. Having previously been guilty of getting stuck on the crease, the Durham man has learned to get either right back or right forward when meeting the ball. This solidity, he claims, is making bowlers lose patience.
“I don’t know how you work on concentration,” said Stokes in the buildup to the second Test starting on Thursday in Visakhapatnam. “You are either born with it or you’re not. And I was definitely not born with it. But knowing that I can back my defence a lot more confidently has added to my attacking game. I know I can keep out their good balls.
“At the same time I can be switched on enough to put their bad balls away and keeping the good ball out makes them try something a little bit different. I’m not sure if that is concentration or just becoming a better player and working on the areas I needed to work on.
“It did start when I came back from injury in the summer. I’ve always known I can hit the big shots so I tightened up the other things which don’t come as easy – the defensive side of it and rotating the strike. I was doing sessions of just not getting out, playing defensively, going forward or back no matter what the ball was. As nets progressed, I starting getting into a few more attacking shots.”
Anyone who has previously watched Stokes larruping leather from ball one in the nets will appreciate the significance of this switch but with the new-found patience comes a physical challenge when faced with the sapping heat of the subcontinent. The all-rounder cramped up late in his innings in Rajkot and may struggle in the future due to what he revealed is a difficulty swallowing food during intervals.
“Our physio, the strength-and-conditioning coach and their doctor were all trying to force-feed me during the intervals in that innings,” he said. “But I literally can’t eat though, not even a protein shake or anything. I don’t know why, I’ve never been able to do it. I don’t like this type of food [in India].
“I was trying to eat naan bread, daal and rice. But I just can’t eat anything and that’s what caused the cramp. I’ll have to put up with a bit of cramp here and there, I think. But I’m pretty confident that it will only be injury that will rule me out [of playing all five Tests]. Touch wood, that doesn’t happen.”
Thankfully for England, but curiously for Stokes, he has no such issues on the field. There he has long been the heartbeat of the side and as their best fielder, he has now been given the licence by the coaching staff to swap positions with team-mates should he believe the batsman to be targeting a specific area.
The head coach, Trevor Bayliss, preaches attitude in the field and this is embodied by Stokes, even if on the odd occasion he pushes the line of acceptable aggression. Certainly there was a running verbal battle with Ravi Ashwin during the first Test but when asked about his fellow all-rounder, albeit of the spin-bowling variety, there is a genuine respect there too.
“Ashwin knows exactly where he is going to bowl every ball,” Stokes said. “He changes his pace and almost seems to read you. There were a few times when I was just laughing at myself during that innings, I was pretty lucky at the amount of times the ball seemed to land in between two fielders and obviously I got dropped twice [on 60 and 61]. A few run outs went missing as well. But playing against spin is something I’ve always known I have needed to work on, so to go out and perform on the pitch and do it against the best bowler in the world in Ashwin and the best team in the world in India, is a good feeling.”
Stokes spoke of his enjoyment at a brief spell as vice-captain under Jos Buttler during the one-day series victory in Bangladesh when Eoin Morgan was absent due to security concerns. Asked whether he had aspirations for the top job down the line, he replied: “No, you have to be boring like Cookie to be a captain.”
Given Cook’s description of Stokes as England’s “golden player” on Sunday and the significant strides he is making as a batsman for all surfaces, you fancy that like the risks he took during his hundred in Rajkot, this will be another one he gets away with.
• Investec is the title sponsor of Test match cricket in England. Visit investec.co.uk/banking
