The Ashes: Ben Stokes heroics in vain as Australia take 2-0 series lead
ot this time. Not quite. Not even Ben Stokes, employee of the century at Miracles ‘R’ Us, could get England over the line.
Australia, after two Tests, lead the Ashes 2-0, within one drawn contest of retaining the Urn and one win of a first series triumph in England since 2001. The home team, meanwhile, must become only the second side in history to come from two-down to win 3-2.
But that bleak state of play tells nothing of the drama that unfolded here at Lord’s, a remarkable and yet, perversely, predictable innings of 155 from Stokes inspiring, for several thrilling hours, the belief that a repeat of Headingley history might be on the cards.
Chasing 371 for victory, there were 330 required when Stokes came out to bat on the fourth evening with England’s top order largely blown away, 257 left as he resumed this morning and 178 when Jonny Bairstow – his last specialist accomplice – was run-out by Alex Carey in a moment of high controversy. Tellingly, though, even when Stokes matched his Headingley score of 135, England were still 92 runs shy, too many, even with Australia threatening a similar meltdown.
The England of Stokes and Brendon McCullum have, between Wellington and Edgbaston, done a fine line in heroic failure, espousing the theory that their few losses, while sore, came with the gift of some greater good for the game.
This result, though, should not be filed in the same drawer. England’s suicidal implosion to the short-ball on the third evening was a betrayal of the calculated aggression that has made Bazball a success, and Stokes’s near-rescue act an example of the kind of seizing of circumstance that too many teammates lacked.
The pre-amble? The partnership between Stokes and Ben Duckett that steadied the England ship on the fourth evening extended beyond a hundred before the opener gloved behind on 83, his second significant contribution of a fine performance that soon faded into the background.
But it was during – crucially, not after – the final ball of the 52nd over that an entire pad of touchpaper was not so much lit as engulfed in flame, Bairstow ducking Cameron Green’s short ball, popping out for a wander and leaving the backdoor unlocked.
It was dozy from Bairstow, opportunistic from Carey, but certainly not exploitative, the batter in fact still in his ground as the ‘keeper began his motion to throw. The umpires had no choice. Might Australia have withdrawn their appeal? In dreamland, perhaps, but in these circumstances? Not likely. After the Mitchell Starc non-catch the previous evening? No chance at all.
In Bairstow, Australia could hardly have done for a player less likely to carry the grudge deep into this series and in Stuart Broad, England could hardly have sent out a replacement more willing to whip up the storm, the new man in near enough asking for written permission to leave his crease after fending off each ball and playing with notably sharpened resilience as he kept Stokes company for two hours.
“That’s all you’ll ever be remembered for,” Carey was told by the seamer, himself of course, no stranger to Ashes villainy. “That’s the worst thing I’ve ever seen in cricket,” Cummins was informed.
From that moment on, with the fire stoked, Stokes was on fire, the short-ball that had so troubled both teams throughout the contest suddenly being pounced upon with rare ease. Three in a row from Green cleared the ropes as Stokes passed three figures and, as at Headingley, gave the landmark little acknowledgement.
In this exact space on the first evening, this correspondent pondered whether Lord’s might be the least partisan home venue in world sport. Oops. A day five crowd, many having paid the bargain price of £25 for a ticket, were right in the game, only the arrival of lunch briefly quelled the hostility, the boos, the accusations of cheating. The fury and fervour even seeped through storied walls of the members’ Pavilion and into the Long Room, where Stone Island badges may as well have appeared on the sleeve of bacon and egg blazers as Australia’s players were confronted over their supposed digression.
There was curry on the players’ menu, hardly what was called for in an Australian dressing room that, on the evidence of the restart, needed cooling. Steve Smith charged in off the fence and shelled a simple catch, Stokes put down on 114. Substitute Matt Renshaw, still wearing shin pads, bumbled across and, with a run-out in the offing, threw so waywardly that you could not be certain whether he’d been aiming for the right end or wrong. Carey put down a much tougher chance, diving to his right.
By now, Broad was beginning to sense opportunities, too, realising that with still more than 90 required and three more batters to come, the risk and burden ought to be at least partially shared. By the time the hundred-partnership came up, however, Broad had made only 11, denied a couple more when running a full two himself while Stokes stood unmoved at the other end.
That, you felt sure, would be how it had to remain, at least until the last knockings when the remnants of England’s lineup might be trusted to take the baton the final few yards on their own.
But with 70 left and the boundaries drying up, a tiring Stokes top-edged Hazlewood into the sky, leaving Carey and simple catch and a lengthy tail, despite some admirable resistance, too much to do.
