England head coach Paul Collingwood hailed the ‘phenomenal’ Ben Stokes after being glued to his seat during an exhibition of clean hitting.
Stokes collected his 11th Test ton and first in almost two years in Barbados as he backed up his herculean bowling effort in Antigua with a powerful batting display. And Collingwood reckons it is a sign of his growing leadership qualities as he tries to support Joe Root on and off the field.
Stokes was short on fitness and preparation in Australia and it showed in the Ashes as he tried to play catch up. This time he has set his stall out with the amount of training he has been doing, and the results are there to be seen during the matches which should make others follow his example.
The interim boss has good reason to be invested in the performances of Stokes as he tries to lift the gloom following the Ashes. But even putting aside his own ambitions to coach England in the long term, Stokes has started to put on the sort of shows that fans and teammates alike just want to watch from start to finish.
“He’s phenomenal,” said Collingwood. “What a great innings that was. He’s box office and everyone was watching. You didn’t want to miss a ball he was facing. You can tell he wants to make a difference in the dressing room as a leader. When he’s preparing himself like he is at the moment he certainly leads.
“He wants to go out in the middle and put in big performances. He wants the ball in his hand, or to be scoring the runs. He’s doing just that at the moment. It’s amazing when he’s got this kind of attitude, as we all know he’s one of the best. He’s desperate to do well for the badge, for England.
“Even the meetings when we first arrived, getting the scar tissue from Australia out the way and how we were going to move forward. You could see and hear he had the bit between his teeth and wants to lead this team.”
If the 30-year-old can inspire a match-winning effort in Grenada then undoubtedly this will have been a very decent tour to start the red ball rebuild. Runs have flowed from the batsmen at a good rate, while the bowlers are yet to overcome the opposition and the surfaces they’ve been faced with.
Collingwood was full of praise for the bowlers’ endeavour and in many ways they are epitomising the hard working qualities he brought as a player. But for every Collingwood, a team needs a Kevin Pietersen and an Ian Bell to bring more than hard work, and at the moment England’s bowlers are finding that cutting edge hard to come by.
