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Will Ben Stokes even be at his 100% best in the opener in Perth?
"I understand what this series means in my journey as England captain," Stokes said in his final press conference before the opening Test.
Plenty of questions surrounded the first Ashes Test between Australia and England at Perth, on November 21 (Friday). Most of it was asked to the visitors, who hadn’t won a Test series Down Under for the longest time.
But all those questions were put to rest by one man: Benjamin Andrew Stokes, when he became the first English captain in over 40 years to pick up a five-wicket haul in Australia.
England had an arsenal of outright pace: Gus Atkinson, the returning Jofra Archer, and the relentless Mark Wood. But even beyond this pace battery, they had a weapon that has often hurt batting units the most over the last two years: Stokes.
Archer, Wood and Atkinson, in tandem, had already put Australia under real danger, with the score reading 31/4. But then Travis Head and Cameron Green brewed a critical partnership for Australia, a 45-run stand.
Ask any team, and they will tell you how that 76/4 could quickly turn into 200/4 before you can even think of Plan B. But this England side are no other team; they always have a trick up their sleeve, almost like starting every game of poker with an ace up their sleeve.
Wondering who’s that ace? Stokes.
Out of nowhere, even as the pitch seemingly had become docile, Stokes produced a wicket. Name any other bowler, and there’s a strong chance that Head wouldn’t have tried to clear that fielder with that shot, but that’s where the English captain makes you do things. If that wasn’t enough, an over later, he returned with another big scalp: Green.
It wasn’t so much the delivery but the planning from Stokes, a delivery before, he just moved the fielders on the off-side a few metres. A delivery later, Green, who batted with so much concentration, was sucked into a big shot.
The ball didn’t move as much as it did the whole afternoon, but it was just that bit of Stokes’ magic that was enough. That’s Stokes in a nutshell; he does things that words can’t explain. It is almost like he’s hypnotising the opponents in playing into his hands.
Mitchell Starc was playing as good as he could; he was timing them through the off-side with such ease, but the moment Stokes delivered quite a timid delivery, the left-hander couldn’t even clear the mid-on fielder.
It is moments like those which you can’t quite describe, but deep inside, you always predict.
Alex Carey clearly knew that there was a fielder kept for that ramp shot; it was clear that Stokes was going to bowl a slow bouncer. Yet, time and again, the outcome is always the same: the England skipper gets the better of the best of batters.
You could see Carey’s disappointment as he walked back, but underneath that disappointment is the obvious fact: Stokes does Stokes things.
“Yeah, he's (Stokes) amazing. His character and his resilience is everything that this team strives to be. Obviously, a game-changing spell there in that session from him,” Carse said after the day’s play, where 19 wickets fell.
Numerically, the 6 overs, 23 runs, and five wickets tell the tale. It was the best spell by an English captain on Australian soil in over 40 years, an instant classic that words can barely capture.
England and Stokes in danger?
"I am not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger. A guy opens his door and gets shot, and you think that of me? No, I am the one who knocks.”
Stokes didn’t just knock; he shot the Australian door wide open.