‘Stokes brings glimmer of hope to England’s dirt era’ – BBC Sport

Ben Stokes owes England’s physiotherapist a beer.

The captain promised Ben Davies that he would not bowl on the tour to India. Stokes’ idea of ​​making amends for breaking that promise was to offer him a drink. Now he has to get it done.

It would be completely unfair to criticize Stokes’ screenwriters for coming up with something fanciful. Stokes being Stokes, what happened on the second day of the fifth Test against India in Dharamsala was completely predictable. You can write it easily. I could see it coming a mile away.

Almost 251 days after he last bowled in a match, Stokes, who had spun for 28 consecutive wickets during the series and had played 248.2 overs during that time, took just one ball to show England what they had been missing. required.

After lunch, Stokes was bowled by opposite number Rohit Sharma for 103 in the second over. The inward-arching run-up was exactly the same, and after an eight-month gap, Stokes didn’t need a loosening agent. The perfect shot angled inside, grazed Rohit’s outside edge and kissed the stumps.

Zach Crawley covered his mouth in disbelief. Brendon McCallum shook his head. Confused, Rohit limps back to the pavilion.

But Stokes couldn’t celebrate. Even with a Stokesian-level reversal, the game was already over. England, a country that offers many opportunities to touring teams, had experienced their first truly hopeless day.

The visitors were made to pay for just 218 people with bats, but India had more than doubled that by the end of the second day, winning 473 and losing eight. Mark Wood is done with six overs to go and the hunt for James Anderson’s 700th Test wicket is starting to feel like a quest in Atlantis.

Young spinners Shoaib Bashir and Tom Hartley did well to stop India in the second half, but by then Bashir had hit eight, equaling the most by an England spinner in a Test innings with six. , while Hartley’s boundary fielding had the solidity of a wet. toilet paper.

All of India’s top five players are over 50 years old. Rohit and Shubman Gill were active for centuries. Either side of Stokes’ bowling stroke, India scored 4.3 runs per over in the morning session and 4.7 runs in the afternoon.

England are not the first team to wilt at the end of a tour of India. That’s the toughest challenge in cricket, perhaps in all sports.

India tests techniques, toys with minds, and examines souls. England started with a win in the first Test, the so-called Hyderabad Robbery, but ended with a crushing defeat in Dharamsala. India gradually attracted tourists over victories in Visakhapatnam, Rajkot and Ranchi. On Friday, they finally let them join the barbecue.

If there’s a glimmer of hope in a Test played in a cloud, it’s Stokes’ bowling. His left knee is the most important body part in British sport since David Beckham’s metatarsal. It didn’t make it past the Ashes and Stokes didn’t even try to push it out at the World Cup.

When he finally opted for surgery in November, he described it as a “wipe out.” In reality, the bone spur was removed and the meniscus was sutured. Kim and Aggie will be proud of this accomplishment.

Rehabilitation began before surgery. Stokes slimmed down to reduce pressure on his knee and aid the recovery process. Still, not only did I need to get my knees in better shape, but I also needed to readjust my body to perform incredibly unnatural movements.

He said before the second Test that his bowling in practice was just the first step towards becoming an all-rounder again by the summer at home.

Stokes was adamant about a “pinky engagement” with Davies when speaking before the third Test, but did not rule out the possibility of competitive bowling by the end of the match. He bowled full tilt at the net before the fourth Test at Ranchi and declared that his knee was pain-free for the first time in years, but he did not receive the ball in the field for tactical reasons.

Even before the final Test, Stokes tried to bluff us by saying that the England team had been selected on the basis that he would not bowl. But here he was on a sun-drenched afternoon in the Himalayas, warming up at lunchtime as match conditions called for his presence.

Fielding at mid-off in the first over after the break, Stokes was seen raising his knees high and waving his arms, but Stokes bowled for the first time since the second Ashes Test at Lord’s in July. did.

Some 38 years after another great England all-rounder, Ian Botham, took a wicket with his first delivery – in Botham’s case, he was under a drug ban – Stokes matched the impact of the moment. did.

It was a sports theater. Anderson, who had been ineffectual before lunch, suddenly regained his strength and bowled Gill – his 699th Test scalp. Because Stokes was involved, it seemed possible for England to fight back. The scoreboard said India were in the lead, but that hardly mattered in the mesmerizing time when Stokes dropped the score in five overs.

His pace was excellent, about 85 miles per hour. Stokes dropped Sarfaraz Khan’s return catch from the no-ball. The captain did not bowl himself until the 62nd over of the innings. One wonders what would have happened if he had reached 30 overs sooner.

Only after Stokes was sent off did the scoring carnage resume. He did not bowl again for the rest of the day. Even Stokes, as mad a dog as he is, knows full well that he’s coming back and a spell of 10-over, 15-over or better marathon times is still beyond him. .

For now, I am happy to see things that I would never have been able to see again. Stokes reached 198 wickets, leaving him just two away from equaling the true greats Jacques Kallis and Sir Garfield Sobers, who achieved a Test double of 200 wickets and 6,000 runs.

As captain, Stokes is adamant that England have made progress on this tour. If they lose 4-1, and they probably do, then the argument becomes even harder.

What is indisputable is that the return of bowler Stokes has made England a stronger team, giving them options and balance that they lacked in this era.

Bowling allows Stokes to develop as a cricketer again. Perhaps it will rejuvenate the batting of a man who has only hit half-centuries in the last 11 innings. It’s like giving Superman his cape back.

England’s day on the dirt roads of Dharamsala was tougher than any they have endured on this tour of India, and will almost certainly lead to a humiliating defeat in the end.

But it will be remembered as Stokes’ magical comeback and hint at the possibility of a brighter future to come.