Before the unbeaten 135, Ben Stokes’s Headingley rescue act in 2019 began with the ball. It remains the somewhat forgotten preamble, the EP of promise before the first album that went platinum.
Stokes was skilful in his 24.2-over spell in Australia’s second innings, but it was his ferocity that stood out, his unwillingness to step aside as an already significant lead grew into what should have been a match-winning one. The final figures were three for 56, tidy but hardly reflective of what he had produced. Marnus Labuschagne, who took the brunt of it, said later that it was one of the best spells he had faced.
