Ben Stokes had spent some of Monday in the middle at Old Trafford, studying the pitch. He had no such option on Tuesday, the covers shielding it from the elements. The Mancunian weather accounted for his only draw as Test captain, against Australia in 2023.
There may be the risk of a repeat, though: even as the skies started to clear in the afternoon, the rain still came down. But Old Trafford draws have a different pertinence: this week has marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the 2005 Ashes. Australia held on in Manchester, nine wickets down in a thrilling finish, but England won the series 2-1.
Twenty years on, in what is shaping up as another epic contest, England hold a 2-1 lead over India, in a series that has taken a twist with sledging defining the Lord’s Test. Rain may be unwelcome, but it would hurt the tourists more. Stokes, whose side has been accused of “breaching the spirit of cricket” after delaying tactics in the third Test, is a man with a proven capacity to bowl through the pain barrier. He knows something about suffering.
He got through 44 overs to secure the 22-run win at Lord’s, 24 of them in the last innings, spells of nine and 10 included. “I don’t think enjoyment is the right word,” he reflected. “I consistently felt threatening in those spells, hence why I kept on going.”
It was just as well he then had a few days off. “I felt like I was in a long-distance relationship with my family because I hardly saw them [despite] being at home,” he said. “I needed to lie down. I watched the whole series of Landman on Amazon. That’s good. I watched 28 Days Later and followed up with 28 Weeks Later.”
In 28 weeks’ time, the Ashes will be over and, following India’s visit, the back-to-back defining series have the potential to provide the lasting impression of Stokes’ captaincy. It has brought entertainment in abundance and a flurry of victories, four of them against India. But his England are yet to overcome either India or Australia in a series; the World Test Championship may suggest otherwise, but the duo feel the superpowers.
If it is all about the here and now, perhaps that explains why England’s bowling attack are 29, 30, 34, 35 and 36. Stokes, the 34-year-old, may not have had a youth policy when pairing James Anderson and Stuart Broad. Now the old stagers are Chris Woakes and Liam Dawson.
Woakes, whose returns can diminish when he plays four or five Tests in a series, has seven wickets at 56 in this. There was some thought he could be rested, rotated or dropped. “Outside of the rewards that Woakesy hasn’t got with the ball, he is a very important player for us,” said Stokes, unworried by unflattering returns of late, focusing on his Old Trafford past. “Woakesy has got a very good record here.”
Dawson’s record in County Championship cricket stands in stark contrast to the injured Shoaib Bashir’s: the Somerset spinner averages 84 in the championship, whereas Dawson took 49 wickets and scored 840 runs last season. He could add more runs – he has more first-class hundreds than opener Zak Crawley – and, eight years after his last Test, is selected to be a plug-and-play solution. “Getting recalled to the white-ball team, he showed he can come back in and get to work straight away,” Stokes said. “We spoke briefly at nets yesterday about that. I said to Daws, ‘You’re a lot different to someone like Bash, where we were both learning on the job together’.”
Dawson is a beneficiary of Brendon McCullum’s job-share, impressing the Test coach on his new one-day duties, leapfrogging Jack Leach to become the preferred left-arm spinner. “Quality cricketer and very, very competitive,” said Stokes, arrowing in on the character of a player who is both newcomer and veteran.
Injuries have the potential to reshape the series. India’s bowling attack is more depleted with Akash Deep joining Nitesh Kumar Reddy in being ruled out, along with a plausible replacement, in Arshdeep Singh. Either Prasidh Krishna or the uncapped Anshul Kamboj will take the last berth for a seamer. India, having declared that Jasprit Bumrah will only play three Tests in the series, have decided that Old Trafford will be the third. The oddity is that England have won both in which the world’s top-ranked bowler has appeared. But if short-termism is a theme of England’s selection, it has to be for India, too: save Bumrah for The Oval and it could be too late.
The better injury news for India is that Rishabh Pant is fit after the finger problem that prevented him from keeping wicket at Lord’s. He averages 70 in the series, just above KL Rahul, with both Shubman Gill and Ravindra Jadeja over 100. If the statistics can underline the importance of Stokes the bowler for England, they can also invite questions as to how his side is leading. An answer can be found in England’s ability to win key moments, which can be a Stokes specialism. “The series has been great to play in and I presume it’s been pretty good to watch,” said the England captain. It invites comparisons with one of the most celebrated summers in English cricket. “The 2005 Ashes series was great to watch,” added Stokes. “We’ve gone all five days in all three Tests so far. It just proves that the quality of cricket has been outstanding. Two teams going toe to toe and not very much separating us at the moment.”
After Old Trafford, there could be nothing separating them, or England could have clinched their most prestigious series victory under Stokes. Or, if the Mancunian weather has its way, he may get something he almost abolished: a draw.
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