England v West Indies 2020: The method to Ben Stokes' madness
England opener Dom Sibley had huffed and puffed, nurdled and scraped his way to an enterprising century. His stonewalling endeavour had squeezed out every ounce of energy left into the Windies' pace battery. Fielders hunched listlessly on the verge of the thirty-yard circle, leaking singles with almost pompous geniality.
But ones and twos no longer held relevance in the grander scheme of things. For all the unflustered mitigation hitherto, England needed to break the shackles. And much to their delight, occupying the crease was the man best suited for the job, an enigma called Ben Stokes.
The acceleration jaunt kick-started with an exquisite maximum off Alzarri Joseph. Stokes had en route his journey to the three-figure mark plied his trade along the carpet, but an extension of the on-drive saw the cherry fly over the boundary rope.
When Roston Chase inadvertently dragged his length back moments later, Stokes channelized his weight onto the backfoot and clobbered the most vigorous square cut through backward point. The stroke was hit inflicting such brute venom that the sound reverberated like thunder across the desolate stands.
Stokes' serving the mantle of the chief aggressor coincided with the tourists' losing steam. Their lethargic groundwork meant singles were converted into doubles within the blink of an eye. Whenever the ball approached the fence, an extra run was invariably stolen courtesy of the fatigued throwing arm.
Ben Stokes powered England into the driver's seat
Though on the charge, Stokes was calculated in his shot-selection. The off-spinner Chase was scored off predominantly with the turn rather than against it. Jason Holder and Kemar Roach were punished with utmost disdain the instant they veered from the wheels, but Stokes didn't commit the elementary error of swinging from the hip at each delivery in his pursuit of switching gears.
"We said after the Ageas Bowl about being as clinical as we possibly can, if you are the person out in the middle, really making sure you go on and make it count," Stokes emphasized the requisite for batsmen to carry on after accomplishing personal milestones. "This week, there was a lot of that for me, being a man who is going to make a difference with the bat,'' he added in the post-match press conference.
Stokes' measured counter-attack was central to England posting an enormous first-innings total of 469. The hosts were destined to fall short if Stokes would have just merrily rolled the dice instead of strategically pacing his onslaught. The excess of hundred runs that England were able to accumulate during the evening session could now well prove the deciding factor in the match's context.
There were several promising signs for England at Manchester on Friday, not least Sibley resolving their deep-seated opening conundrum and Jos Butler rediscovering his mojo. But Stokes' maturity took the cake.