Shut your eyes and it’s not hard to picture the enduring images of Ben Stokes’s England career. In Test cricket he’s almost certainly leaning back, arms in the air at Headingley, roaring after he’s just cut away, cut away for four. In ODIs he’s probably decked out in baby/powder blue, arms aloft once again but this time with innocent eyes. Martin Guptill’s throw has deflected off Stokes’s bat for the six that no one saw coming. Not long afterwards, Stokes will have the World Cup trophy in his hands.
In the shortest form, however, the image is a painful one. It’s a night in Kolkata in 2016. Stokes is down on his haunches, eyes bloodshot, hands over his head, Joe Root crouched behind him, trying to comfort his old friend. Four balls have come and gone, each one of them sailing off Carlos Brathwaite’s bat for six. West Indies are World T20 champions and Eoin Morgan’s band of upstarts are still a while away from turning into the real deal.
