They say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert. It took Ben Stokes so many more than that to get here, to the fifth day at the Oval, England captain, 2-1 down in the Ashes, 50 or so overs left to go, Steve Smith in, and his team still needing seven wickets to level the series.
All those matches he has played, for schools, clubs, county and country, through the age groups in Christchurch and Wellington and Cockermouth, for Cumbria, for Northern Schools, for Durham’s academy, their firsts and seconds, for England’s under-18s, under‑19s and Lions, T20, Test, and one-day international sides, on and on and on, in the Big Bash and the Super Smash and the Indian Premier League, years of practising, of batting, bowling, fielding, and thinking about cricket, told him, as he watched Smith batting against Moeen Ali, that what he needed to do in this moment was move himself in to field at leg slip.
