Category: International Cricket (Men)

I really do think we can learn something about forgiveness from the 2019 Ashes.

A couple of months back, on the first day of the 2019 Cricket World Cup I wrote this blog – Ben Stokes Phase 2?.  I genuinely thought that Ben Stokes could do something remarkable, and he really did look determined to make up for his earlier mistakes.  And he looked like he wanted to make the most of his 2nd chance.  We know all about the World Cup but if you need a reminder, my post World Cup blog is here – CWC2019: New heroes.

Today England survived.  They won the third test match at Headingley.  It means that when I go to the Old Trafford test match next week, on day 1 and day 5 (if it gets to day 5), the Ashes will still be ‘live’.  It has to be said that England have been poor in this third test match until yesterday afternoon when Joe Root and Joe Denley dug in.  That they won however was down to 1 man.  Ben Stokes.  He bowled his heart out, and then showed as much determination with the bat as I have ever seen in sport.

2019 is turning into the Redemption Ashes.  At Edgbaston we saw the first test match return for Steve Smith since the sand paper incident (OK I never wrote about this – but you can easily read up on ‘Sandpaper-gate’).  Steve Smith has been torn to pieces by anyone who follows cricket.  Even the Australian PM had a pop.  And Smith, along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, deserved every bit of it.  It was the same with Stokes back in 2017.  He deserved it.

And I have to be honest; personally I felt none of them should play for their countries again.  It was the same with Mohammad Amir back in 2009 after the spot fixing fiasco.  To me, these players had cheated to such a degree; they did not deserve another chance.  But actually, I call myself a Christian.  It makes it unacceptable for me to say that someone does not deserve another chance.  Actually, as human beings, we should never say that people do not deserve a second chance.  From a distance, I have watched Stokes carefully since he came back into the England team.  And as I have already said, it really does seem that he now has a new level of determination.

At Edgbaston, Steve Smith singlehandedly won the game for Australia.  I watched Smith when he put his bat in the air to celebrate both 100s that he scored.  In his face, he looked desperate to make up for that crazy situation in South Africa – which Smith as Captain was responsible for.  At Lords, Smith was on his way to another 100 before he was hit on the head.  I do not think England bowl well at Smith, but he is darn good.  And I am so glad he has had another go.

This innings by Ben Stokes at Headingley was incredible.  He was on 2 off 50 balls for goodness sake.  I have actually been at a wedding today.  I had really given up hope, but with this England team you never know.  I kept looking at the BBC live text feed, refreshing, refreshing, refreshing….waiting for it to say ‘Australia win by……’  Suddenly, England only needed 8 more.  It was single figures.  Then it was scores level.  And then…England won.  Now I have watched the highlights on Sky Sports and on Channel 5 and the BBC website.  It was truly remarkable.  It really was.

Stokes knew that if he stayed in, he could do something.  Root and Denley seem to have worked this out in the 2nd innings.  Hopefully we will see more application from the whole England top order now.

But I am delighted for Ben Stokes.  We all deserve a second chance.  We all need to take the chances we get.

Joe Root is on for a 100 at Old Trafford.  You heard it here first.  

Pictures from the BBC

WHAT A FINISH!

On the 14th July at 1700 I had given up all hope for England.

By 1800 I was starting to realise something crazy was happening.

At about 1830 I started to Google the tie breaker rules.

By 1900 I was thinking that if England might just make it.

At 1930 England won the World Cup – and I had aged by several years.

New Zealand were magnificent and showed us true sportsmanship.  I would not have minded them winning – but it would have been heart-breaking for the England players, as it ended up being for New Zealand.  I have been saddened to see so much vitriol about the result on social media – and very little of it has come from New Zealand.

England did win the World Cup according to the competition regulations.  Personally, I have no problems with the regulations of the tournament. I do not believe you can split The World Cup in two and share it so tie breaker rules are needed.  I do not have a problem with the number of boundaries being used in the ‘tie breaker tie breaker’ scenario.  If you are going to get picky about that then you can get equally picky about the fact New Zealand even made the final because of the Net Run Rate Rule – and I do not have a problem with this either.  Pakistan were destroyed by West Indies and the scale of the defeat should be relevant.  In my view, both India and Australia played more consistent good cricket than England and New Zealand – but not when it really mattered.  And I am so glad it was England and New Zealand – otherwise we would never have had that amazing game.  Whatever rules you have, someone will not like them.

And we have the question about the ‘6’ which came courtesy of the 4 overthrows – that rule needs to be changed.  It is both unclear and completely crazy.  Imagine if the run out rule applied from when ball was thrown rather than when the ball hits the stumps?  No, that is crazy and I am not surprised it was missed by everyone in the ground!  If you want to query that then you can query the wide that was given off Archer’s first ball in the super over – because it was not a wide.  When you start to question things like that, you will never stop.  The fact is that according to the rules of the competition, England Won.  Let’s face it, at some point in the tournament both sides got lucky with Umpire Decisions.

When it comes to Test Match Cricket, I updated my heroes a few years ago – Strauss, Cook and Trott – after the 2010/11 Ashes Series in Australia.  They took over from Gower and Botham.

However for most of my cricket following life, England have been rubbish at One Day Cricket and my heroes were still Gooch, Lamb and Botham from 1992 – even though they did not win.  However, before The World Cup started, BBC Radio 5 Live attempted to pick an all-time England One Day team.  I realised then that it was almost impossible to even fit Gooch and Botham into that team – and Gooch still remains the best England batsman of modern times (for me better than Kevin Pietersen).  The all-time England One Day team is basically the current team.  I think virtually every current first choice player would have got into any England side of the last 30 years.

So now I have 11 new heroes plus Moeen Ali.  I have been so impressed with Ben Stokes – I know he had a terrible year or so but he has shown that you can turn things around in life – surely a good lesson.  Don’t forget that you heard it here first (Ben Stokes Phase 2?).

Thanks for an amazing game and thanks to both sides for that last hour – I will always treasure the memory of watching that last hour with my 3 year old – who was gripped.

Ben Stokes is an England Cricketer with the potential to be a world beater. I have clearly never met Stokes, but he appears to be very passionate about cricket and life. This delivers a determination and ability to ‘make things happen’. But the negative is that over the years he has been easily wound up. The first time we saw this was the infamous incident with the Marlon Samuels salute (which I do not approve of). This culminated on a night out in Bristol on 25th September 2017 when video emerged which appeared to show Stokes in the middle of a late night street brawl. Stokes has since been cleared of affray.

On Thursday 30th May Ben Stokes 2019 took an amazing catch.  It bought back memories of another ridiculous catch that Stokes took in 2015. The 2 catches are totally different.  One is before the 25th September 2017.  

You can see the 2 catches here and here.

Good days….

…and not so good

When it comes to slip catching, I am not sure the quality is not as good as it used to be. Of course, England used to have one of the best slip fielders of all time in Ian Botham – he used to stand so close in. Even since then though, you could mention Thope, Trescothick, Flintoff, Strauss, Collingwood…..I could go on. In recent years though, England have had one of the poorest slip cordons I can remember. However, away from slip catches we see catches that would not even have been considered possible in 1993 when Botham called it a day.

All-Rounders are a different breed. Andrew Flintoff had his best and worst moments against the Aussies.

Ian Botham drove the Aussies mad.

It is tempting to compare Botham and Stokes in so many ways (throw Andrew Flintoff into the mix). On the field my view is that Botham was a vastly superior bowler and probably a better batsman (though the batting is less clear-cut).  But when it comes to fielding, Stokes is the stand out. As the videos show, Stokes is brilliant in gully and in the outfield, and he is a decent slipper too. The 2015 catch is down to reflexes and natural ability.  The 2019 catch should have been easy but Stokes misjudged it and then came a moment of brilliance.

I suspect that when it comes to the 3 all-rounders, it might be off the field where the similarities are greatest (alcohol and pedalos undoubtedly come to mind). And it is off the field where things really went wrong for Stokes.

In September 2017 Stokes scored a test match century and 2 half centuries. He scored 73 on 24 September. He had taken a few wickets and it really felt like his career was going to take off. Then he did not play for England for months because of the incident outside a Bristol nightclub.

We will never know what happened that night. The one thing we do know is that he should not have been wondering around Bristol in the small hours. Certainly not during a one day series, I would argue not at all in his position. I do wonder what his agent and the England security staff were playing at but that is another story. Eventually personal responsibility comes into it. Of course Stokes has been cleared of criminal activity. His career has been damaged for sure and he missed an away Ashes Series.

Since that incident, Stokes has not been the same cricketer. Word is that he is a changed man. Certainly what we have seen on the cricket field has been a focus on being the team player. The swashbuckling appeared to be gone. Last week was the first piece of outrageous brilliance we have seen since Stokes returned to English Cricket.

It is tempting to draw all sort of conclusions about Stokes. Some would say he should not have played for England again – and he would not have if he had been found guilty. But having been found not guilty, we move on. It is also tempting to get angry about the lost time. I think it highly unlikely that Stokes could have changed the result of the Ashes series in 2017/8 (not without Sandpaper anyway). Since Stokes has returned England have needed him and he has not performed. It is frustrating that Stokes is not listed as the best all-rounder in the world as he has the talent to be the best.

It is worth a mention of Alex Hales, who was with Stokes that night though was not the person throwing the punches as far as we know. But as a result of that night, Hales and Stokes were suspended which let Jason Roy back in the team. ‘JRoy’ has been ‘un-droppable’ since. A lesson in that about not taking life for granted.

Rather than being angry, I prefer to respect Stokes who has apparently learnt something and striven to change his ways. I really hope this article does not come back to bite me, but I do believe Stokes is taking a different approach. Time will tell.

I hope he will now find away to combine this with more brilliance on the field. Against the West Indies on 14th June would be a good time for some brilliance, I think England will need it in that game.

I am hoping that Stokes will be permitted a night out on Sunday 14th July, just after he has scored a century and taken 5 wickets in order to allow England to win the World Cup.

* Pictures all from the BBC