LORD’S — Even superheroes run out of road. A top edge, a fraction the wrong side of the ball and the dream ended.
Ben Stokes knew what the loss of his wicket meant. It was the difference between levelling the Ashes and falling two behind. Rarely can an innings of such magnitude, 155 colossal runs, have been met by such disappointment.
As he bent forward on his bat, emptied of fight, crushed by the gravity of it all, the scene evoked the moment almost 50 years ago when cornerman Eddie Futch bent towards the ear of Joe Frazier and said: “Sit down son. It’s all over. No-one will ever forget what you did here today.”
For 14 rounds in Manila Frazier and Muhammad Ali had delivered one of the great contests in the history of boxing. Frazier returned to his stool spent. He could give no more.
In defeat he made a great of Ali, and of himself. There was no need for reproach. None saw in Frazier anything other than a champion that October night. The greater god simply beat him.
And so it was for Stokes. Alone he could not compensate for the flaws of his teammates, despite delivering another mesmerising innings, a knock that had all the skill, courage, chutzpah of his winning effort at Headingley four years ago.
All it lacked was the marginal breaks he enjoyed that day. Josh Hazlewood found the edge with an unremarkable ball. Stokes went for another mighty heave but the percentages were with Australia.
Them’s the breaks. Stokes’s reaction spoke of the warrior he is, caring nothing for the appreciation of a Lord’s crowd and the millions watching remotely. He did not pin the Australian attack to the floor for personal glory.
The send off he was given reflected his unique contribution to another epic sporting tale. None of it penetrated the despair he felt at falling narrowly short in a match England were losing by a mile until he lit the fireworks.
Indeed England were on the point of oblivion when Australia did the dirty on Jonny Bairstow, an act of s***housery so low it brought the English upper classes to the point of revolt in the Long Room, the gentlemen of Marylebone letting the Australian players know exactly how they felt about Bairstow’s exit, the cheapest of cheap shots.
Technically Bairstow was stumped. Alex Carey acted within the rules by rolling the ball into the stumps as Bairstow wandered down the track. The cohort of former international captains in the commentary box were universal in their support of Carey, agreeing that Bairstow was guilt of doziness.
Except Carey knew that Bairstow assumed the ball dead after he had ducked under another bouncer. Bairstow glanced behind as convention dictates before leaving his crease to tend the wicket.
The incident turned Lord’s into a cauldron of ill-feeling, Australia guilty of the most heinous of crimes, acting against the spirit of the game. It just wasn’t cricket. It appeared Stokes shared that view.
He was a hostile presence thereafter as if seeing Carey’s features on the ball as he smashed it repeatedly out of the ground. As the pre-lunch barrage gathered pace, the Australian attack unpicked by the righteous violence of Stokes’s hitting, the improbable idea that England might win began to take shape.
The greater the challenge the higher Stokes rises. It seems nothing is beyond him. Every member of the capacity crowd left Lord’s touched by the mythical presence the England captain has become. Or “freak” as Australia’s own genius Steve Smith labelled Stokes.
It is perhaps in England’s favour that Stokes, for once, did not pull off another miracle, for it would have lessened the impact of their flaws. Australia won this with ten men, minus Nathan Lyon with the bat in their second innings or with the ball in England’s.
Elite sport is a hard school in which weakness is ruthlessly exposed. England’s bowlers did not lack effort just juice. Josh Tongue apart, the attack was underpowered, and it showed in Australia’s first innings. On a good pitch James Anderson, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson did not have the pace to discomfit Australia’s top order. Batting is an easier enterprise against balls bowled at 80mph.
England were undone by the four tall men banging it in at 140kph (87mph) plus. Ben Duckett remarked how he had never faced anything like the Australian attack in county cricket. With only 0.6 per cent of balls bowled quicker than 147kph in England’s domestic competition he wouldn’t have. The percentage rises to 16 per cent in Test cricket, and 35 per cent when Australia are involved.
The message is clear. To turn Bazball into victories against Australia, England need more than Stokes’s heroics. They must bring fury with the ball as well as the bat.
