LONDON: AT one point of time in the second session, a visibly tired Ben Stokes wanted to keep going because his mind wanted him to. So, he raised his right index finger to Jofra Archer. Archer was fresh but the England captain wanted one one more over. But the urge to keep going and the mental capacity to put his already overworked, abused body on the line meant he came on for more over. A few more effort balls into a lifeless, dead surface. 135kph plus delivery, delivery after delivery, completely ignoring the build up of lactic acid in his legs.
Think of a body part and Stokes probably has an MRI of it back home. He had to stop bowling. He had to manage his fitness. He had to say no to lucrative IPL contracts. Post surgery after a hamstring tear against New Zealand last last year, he said no to alcohol.
Speaking on the Untapped podcast, the England red-ball captain, had said: "After my first major injury, I remember the shock of it, after the initial adrenaline had stopped, thinking: ‘How has this happened? We did have a bit of a drink four or five nights ago, could that have played a part? It wouldn’t have helped.
"Then I was like: ‘OK, I need to start changing what I do.’ I don’t think I’ll ever be completely sober but I’ve not had a drink since 2 January... It’s just getting harder to do everything. Hence why now I feel like I have to work so much harder away from the field, in the gym and all that kind of stuff to just give me the best chance of being out there to perform. But I’ll keep going as long as I possibly can.”
On a sun-kissed final day at Lord's, he kept going and going and going. Even when there was nothing left in the tank, he took the ball and kept going. When he finished bowling, he took the helmet and became a close-in catcher.
In his first spell before lunch on Monday, Stokes carried on unchanged for 56 legal deliveries. For almost one hour and 45 minutes, the Durham all-rounder was the duracell bunny with the enthusiasm of a child. During this all-important, tone-setting spell, he prized out KL Rahul, the first-innings centurion.
Post lunch, he again returned. This time, for a longer spell. Ravindra Jadeja and Jasprit Bumrah were proving to be stubborn but Stokes was equally stubborn. With the pitch offering nothing, the all-rounder bent his back and went the bumper route to Bumrah. The Indian, a compulsive puller, resisted but the captain kept dangling the carrot. Soon enough, he got Bumrah to pull one short ball from well outside off stump. When mid on pocketed the catch, Stokes' face was intense, a body silently rebelling against the increased workload but the mind laser focused on the job.
When he was not steaming in with the ball in his hand, he was constantly cheering his teammates and keeping their spirits high to make sure the intensity didn't dip. He even sent a message by fielding at short leg as an additional catcher next to Ollie Pope when Mohammed Siraj started fending.
Given his middling returns with the bat — he has scored 163 runs across six innings at an average of 27.16 — questions were being raised about his form. Ahead of the match, the England captain was even asked whether he would take inspiration from his second innings century at the same venue in 2023. "That was two years ago, so I'm pretty much over that now," he had remarked. "But yes, hopefully there's another big score just around the corner."
Stokes had first injured his hamstring during The Hundred in August 2024. He missed four Tests — three at home to Sri Lanka, one in Pakistan — due to the injury. The injury recurred during the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton. It meant Stokes had to miss a white-ball tour of India as well as the Champions Trophy. It also forced him to miss what would have been his first appearance in the SA20 with MI Cape Town. The 34-year-old New Zealand-born player had already opted out of the 2025 IPL auction to focus on the 10 Tests against India and Australia.
He returned to the England Test fold against Zimbabwe but the five-match series against visiting India followed by Ashes was the ultimate target for Stokes. Ahead of the one-off Zimbabwe Test, he told Skysports: "I always work hard. My ethos when I'm injured is I come back fitter than I was before I got injured. I've worked incredibly hard on all aspects of everything, from my cricket to fitness, and know I'm going to be in a position when I am back on the field to potentially be in physically the best possible shape I have been in."
He might not have been that impressive with the bat but with the red cherry in his hand and his astute captaincy, he has been quite effective in the first three matches. His four-wicket haul in the first innings of the opening Test helped England restrict the visitors to 471 despite three centuries from their batters. In the end, it proved to be one of the differentiators as the hosts won the match. He has now taken 11 wickets so far, the most in 11 previous series. The last time he took ten wickets was against South Africa in 2022, his second series as captain.
Stokes will definitely be all fired up when his team play India in the fourth Test at Manchester. Hopefully, this time he will shine with his bat too indicating he has returned back to the fold at the peak of his fitness.
