One day, England will ask too much of Ben Stokes. Maybe, given last weekend’s heroics in vain and the way the captain hobbled about here on barely half-a-leg, they already have.
But until the moment comes, when Stokes can, in his own words, no longer walk, he will keep rising and keep chipping away. For as long as he does England, somehow, remain in the fight.
Not even halfway through this must-win Third Ashes Test, after another two days of rollercoaster cricket, the outcome already looks set to boil down to two familiar questions: How many runs can England chase? And how many of those will have to come from Stokes?
Australia’s lead is 142, more than it might have been at this stage had England taken their chances on day one but far fewer than had it not been for another rescue-act innings, this time of 80, from Stokes.
Replying to 263, England were 142 for seven at lunch having just lost Chris Woakes, their last human batter of any pedigree, to leave the otherworldly Stokes once again in the company of the tail.
Even then, struggling with a novel right leg injury as well as his chronic left knee, he did not immediately flick the switch, allowing Mark Wood to play the role of Tour de France lead-out man with a punchy burst to scatter the field, a cameo of 24 runs lasting a whirlwind eight balls. That was Stokes’s cue for acceleration, from 28 off 68 balls to a further 52 in just 40, all but six of those coming in boundaries despite every stretch of the fence being man-marked.
As a media, we make a living off narrative, searching for neat parallels and making references to the past that seldom bear actual relevance to current events, often going as far as to conflate the present day with great or infamous ones of old, irrespective of whether the new wave can even recall them. Is this team of twenty-somethings driven by the pain of ’54? Does some sprightly teen sensation live to banish the ghosts of nineteen-dickety-two?
So, every once in a while it is rather pleasing to look out on a cricket field and know that no comparison is misplaced, to feel sure that the same memories and images rushing through your head are racing through theirs.
As if the television companies hadn’t readied enough in the way of Headingley 2019 content ahead of the Ashes’ return to Leeds, Stokes had produced a near-reenactment only five days ago, players on both sides happy enough to confirm they too had been engulfed by the fog of deja vu. The rarity of such innings and the recency of Lord’s’ replica ought to have ruled out a recurrence here, but with England eight-down and Stokes beginning to purr, the haze set in once more.
Back at the scene of the original crime, history’s backdrop was front and centre, Pat Cummins - despite bowling wonderfully and taking six wickets himself - an Australian captain powerless to stop a sizeable advantage all-but evaporating before his eyes, the will of one man yet again proving enough to tear an entire Test match from its natural course.
Stokes might’ve been out twice, once when arching his back like Dick Fosbury to watch a skied edge drop just beyond the dive of Mitchell Starc, then when hammering back at Todd Murphy, the spinner as fortunate not to have his spleen ruptured as he was unlucky not to hold on. With the outfield rapid and Stokes charging past the landmark of 6,000 Test runs, Cummins had turned to the series debutant with the unenviable task of taming the beast. Stokes, unsurprisingly, took a liking to Nathan Lyon’s replacement, bombing Murphy back over his head at will before coughing up the consolation of the youngster’s first Ashes wicket, the lead reduced to just 26.
Having been given that foothold, the manner in which Stokes dragged himself from the field made clear that the rest of England’s bowlers would have to do the heavy lifting on the rest of the climb.
Stuart Broad made short work of the necessary preamble, picking up David Warner for the 17th time in Tests, but with Ollie Robinson unable to bowl and Mark Wood, understandably, shy of yesterday’s frightening speed, this had the makings of a ragged evening for England in which the game might get away.
Jonny Bairstow’s diving drop of Marnus Labuschagne did little to quell the dread but the struggling ‘keeper’s eighth missed chance of the series was neither his most glaring, nor most costly, as Labuschagne and Steve Smith became the 199th and 200th victims of Moeen Ali’s Test career, both caught playing shots so shockingly poor that it was a surprise England did not put them down.
By close, Usman Khawaja had fallen too, to Chris Woakes, leaving the same partnership of Travis Head and Mitchell Marsh that revived Australia’s first innings at the crease together again. To keep their hopes of a series-salvaging victory alive, England must part them quickly tomorrow. Stokes, as usual, has already done his part.
