One of Ben Stokes’s first decisions as England’s Test captain was to move himself down the batting order, to No6.
Having started out at No6, and spent most of the early part of his career there, Stokes’s class and the general poverty of England’s batting saw him promoted to No5 in 2019. He did well in the position, averaging almost 40 and scoring five hundreds, including one on the tour of the Caribbean this year.
But Stokes felt inhibited batting so high up the order. He sees himself as an all-rounder, and a game-changer, rather than a game-shaper. His desperation to be involved in all facets of the game, and indeed life, is among the defining features of the documentary about him that is released on Amazon Prime this week.
When slipping down to No6, Stokes said: “I am at my best for England when I’m doing both [batting and bowling] as much as the other. Going back to No6 is going to allow me to concentrate on those roles as much as the other, rather than worrying about one whilst I’m doing the other one. I feel that’s best for the team.”
In truth, Stokes had been trying to drop down England’s batting order for a couple of years before inheriting the captaincy. Ahead of the Melbourne Test at Christmas, he decided that he and Ollie Pope would swap places at No5 and 6, at once giving the junior man more responsibility and allowing him to bat in his preferred position. That plan was wrecked by the management’s decision to drop Pope.
The timing of his move down the order was interesting, in that he is now 31 years old, with upwards of 200 international appearances across more than a decade. He has a chronic knee injury. On balance, this might have been time to move up the order rather than down but Stokes decided to step away from other cricket — this year he did not play the IPL and retired from ODIs — and up his workload in Tests.
Stokes’s first summer as skipper is going very well, even if England find themselves in another tricky spot at Lord’s today. He has been an inspirational leader, a good talker and a smart tactician. Stokes’s tactical style is enjoyably indiscreet. He goes after wickets in one way or another, never by half. As with everything in his life, he commits to a plan wholeheartedly.
But his use of his own gifts has been, at times, eyebrow-raising. With the bat, he has struggled to balance bravery with recklessness, yet is still averaging 40. And he has been inconsistent with his use of his bowling; at Headingley against New Zealand, he bowled just four of England’s 222 overs in the field.
Yesterday, he used himself more, and England were mighty grateful that he is still capable of slipping into talismanic all-rounder mode, because he kept them in the Test — just.
Clearly battling through knee pain, he found a brute to bounce out Sarel Erwee (using the telegraphed bouncer plan that is part of his all-or-nothing captaincy), then pinned Rassie van der Dussen lbw. Late in the day, he broke the key partnership between Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen just as the game was slipping from England’s control again. “Inspirational” was Stuart Broad’s verdict.
Stokes cannot bowl like that every single day, because it is so sapping. But when all looks lost, he knows there is no one better to have the ball in hand.
