Ben Stokes wanted the ground to swallow him up three years ago... now he’s a real hero

Hats off to a hero: Ben Stokes
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Rob Key15 July 2019

I'm a bloke who loves watching Game Of Thrones or parking myself in front of a box set. But I don’t believe that anyone can write drama, or manufacture any story that is as brilliant as the cricket we saw on Sunday at Lord’s. Sport does not get any closer than that, and nothing else can deliver the feeling you have as you watch it unfold, or when the final moment is delivered.

In moments like that, you need your strongest people to stand up. Ben Stokes is that guy. I remember playing for Kent against Durham in the Championship in 2010. He was 19 and walked out to bat and I just thought, “Oh my god, this bloke has presence.”

He smashed us for 160. It was brutal, but no one knew much about him.

We had a left-arm spinner, who hadn’t played a lot at that level. He bowled fine at Michael Di Venuto, Dale Benkenstein and all the established players. But when Stokes came in he just bowled waist-high full tosses. Stokes was intimidating — even for a cynical old pro like me.

When you watch a young lad, you see certain shots and just know he will be a superstar. Walk past Stokes and he is a big lad, but he is not massive. Play against him and it’s a different story — he looks huge, he takes over the crease. He has a great technique, but he just strikes the ball harder. I thought here we go, but you saw something that was so special.

People are talking about yesterday’s game being Stokes’s redemption for his Bristol incident. But I actually think the turnaround from the World T20 in 2016 is greater. I was at that game in Kolkata and I was convinced England had won it. Nineteen to defend off the last over? Easy. Famously, Carlos Brathwaite smashed him for four sixes and left Stokes on his knees. He must have wanted the world to swallow him up.

But how great is sport? Three years on, he is there, winning the World Cup for England at Lord’s. He has picked himself up from an incredible low.

There are a lot of very selfish cricketers and sportspeople and some are better at hiding it than others. Batsmen, in particular, want the team to win, but to do well themselves. A selfish, stubborn mindset gets them through.

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Stokes’s great skill yesterday was just to take the game deep. In a one-day game, the thing batsmen all despise is feeling like you are scoring too slowly — it doesn’t matter whether you are Stokes or Sunil Gavaskar. But I always feel watching Ben, whether from the middle or the boundary, that he is the opposite: simply a selfless cricketer. He sees an end goal and tries to find a way to get there.

It may not seem likely, but I’ve always thought Stokes is a leader — and he proved it yesterday. Bad judges base the people they think will be good leaders on how they look. The school prefect type — says the right things and goes to bed on time. People want a safer pair of hands, someone who won’t question the equilibrium.

Stokes is just one of many heroes in the England team. But I’d like to flag an unsung hero: Andrew Strauss, the man who set all this up.

For me, he is as important as Jason Roy, Jonny Bairstow or Jos Buttler.

When England flopped at the last World Cup, it would have been so easy to just ditch Eoin Morgan, or to make the simple choice as head coach. Trevor Bayliss was a rank outsider who didn’t have a reputation in this country.

A few people who had played in the IPL or Australia knew who he was and he was not one of the touted names. But, instead, Strauss got both calls exactly right. He left a job at Sky, backed his coach and captain and England’s one-day cricket has flourished ever since. Ask Bayliss or Morgan and they would tell you he never interfered or micro-managed. He is just one of the most impressive, understated individuals — with a great cricket brain and judge of character — I have come across and he certainly will not be seeking the limelight after all this.

But make no mistake, this triumph is as much down to Strauss as anyone.

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