Data check: Marathon first innings, blistering second – Ben Stokes, England’s Mr. Versatile

Ben Stokes was a determined man, when he came out to bat in the first innings of the second Test against West Indies in Manchester. England needed Ben Stokes. They needed him to bat time, score big...and he did just that. He took 118 balls to reach his half century, got to his century off 255 balls. And, when England needed him to accelerate, he scored his third fifty off 46 balls.

Ben Stokes was a determined man, when he came out to bat in the second innings. This time as an opener. England, this time, needed him to go hard from the first ball. England needed quick runs. England needed Ben Stokes, again.

And the all-rounder delivered in style, again.

“Numbers, figures...I don’t really care. The main number for me is how many wins,” Stokes had said earlier during the Test. “I was more buzzing that I faced 300 balls than I was when I got to my hundred, that’s something I never thought I’d be capable of doing.”

The first innings ton was the second-highest of Stokes’s 10 Test hundreds, behind his blistering 258 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2016. But, more significantly, it was also the longest innings of his career, in terms of ball faced in a Test innings.

As was the case with his stunning 135 not out during a remarkable one-wicket win in the third Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley last year, Stokes had the discipline to play himself in against accurate bowling before picking the right moment to up the tempo.

Also read: Ben Stokes adds another special innings to his collection

Having gone to a hundred in, by his standards, a restrained 255 balls, Stokes needed a mere 46 more for the third fifty of his innings as he punished a new ball being deployed by a tiring West Indies pace attack.

(Note: Scroll across or swipe right to view all columns in the tables below.)

Fast forward to the England second innings: opening the batting for the first time ever in his career in the longest format (Tests or first-class matches), he showed just why he is England’s Mr. Versatile.

Stokes, promoted to open in a quest for quick runs, made 78 not out off 57 balls, including four fours and three sixes, to take England to 129/3 declared in their second innings.

Having batted cautiously before upping the tempo during a brilliant 176 in England’s first innings 469/9 declared, star all-rounder Stokes produced another brilliantly judged batting display.

Ben Stokes in the second Test at Manchester: 

1st inns: 176 off 376 balls, Strike Rate: 49.43. 

2nd inns: 78* off 57 balls, Strike Rate: 136.84.  

Jason Holder, knowing what England wanted to do, spread the field far and wide. But Stokes still took 14 runs off the first over of the day, bowled by Kemar Roach.

The left-handed batsman smashed the fast bowler’s fourth ball past a static long-off for four and next ball took the fielder out of the equation with a huge drive over his head for six.

Next over, Stokes should have been out for 29 when the star all-rounder slogged Shannon Gabriel to deep extra cover only for Campbell to drop a routine catch.

Stokes punished the West Indies for that error, going to fifty with a six off Gabriel that cleared the towering Holder at long-off.

Root was then run out but England vice-captain Stokes continued his assault by powerfully driving Holder for six before elegantly gliding him to four down to third man off successive balls. England, thanks to Stokes, scored 92 runs off 11 overs at the start of the final day’s play.

In the process, Stokes played what was the quickest Test innings of his career when he has faced minimum 50 balls.

(Update: England won the Test by 113 runs after Root declared with West Indies needing 312 runs to win. You can read the day five report here.)

In a breathtaking display of not just power-hitting but determined running between the wickets, Stokes showed he can adapt to any challenge thrown at him.

Only two other instances of openers scoring quicker have been recorded in the history of Test cricket (when facing 50 or more balls).

Stokes, in the process of his two contrasting knocks, became only the third England batsman after Wally Hammond (3), Alastair Cook (3) and Dennis Compton (2) to score more than 250 runs in one Test match on more than occasion.

Indeed, after his fourth Test century since the start of 2019 that was followed by a 78*, Stokes is the world’s leading batsman now in terms of runs scored in that period; during which time the left-hander has averaged over 52 – the sign of a world-class batsman.

Simply put, one can rhetorically ask: is there anything that Ben Stokes can’t do with the cricket bat in hand?

Statistics courtesy: ESPNCricinfo

(With AFP inputs)