Ben Stokes turned plenty of heads last week, and not simply because he was shouting the odd instruction. Two days before the opening Test against India at Headingley he ran in for an 11-over spell – a proper shift, only two deliveries short of the entire workload he managed against Zimbabwe a month earlier. Most bowlers wind down that close to a match. Stokes, perhaps inevitably, wound up.
The pay-off came during the match itself. Bowling 20 overs in India’s first innings and another 15 in the second, he finished with 4 for 66 and 1 for 47, spread across three tidy spells each time. On a surface offering no hidden teeth, his average speed nudged 84 mph and peaked at 88.9 mph. The ball swung, too – 1.453 degrees on the tracker – the most of any quick on either side.
“He was incredible,” said Chris Woakes, who could muster just one wicket in 43 overs. “Without him having played a load of cricket leading into the Test match, for him to come in and do what he did and hit his straps at good pace… I thought he was amazing.”
Woakes went on. “On a good pitch, he looked threatening every time he came on – with newer ball or older.
“I think what you saw last week was he was incredibly consistent with what he was trying to do. His relentlessness and his energy on the ball was as good as I’ve seen for a long time. So that’s a good sign for us and for him.”
Those comments sum up what England’s dressing-room felt. Stokes has always trained hard – every county colleague tells the same story – yet since surgery on a second right-hamstring tear in six months he has pushed even his own limits. The medical staff call it “post-op zeal”. Team-mates have used other words – “freak” and “beast” among them, usually with a grin attached.
The captain’s own reference point is Cape Town 2020. On the eve of this Test he admitted he re-watches footage from that match, where a late blast of three wickets broke South Africa. Back then he averaged 86 mph and touched 91 mph; handy reminders of the rhythm he is chasing again.
Numbers tell part of the story. Stokes produced more swing than Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, both renowned for moving the ball. He hit the seam often enough to keep Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli cautious. And in a side missing Ollie Robinson’s accuracy and Mark Wood’s pace, he offered both control and penetration.
Yet the bigger point may be psychological. England’s attack is full of willing bowlers but, as Woakes admitted, seeing your leader grab the ball and pound away helps everyone else settle. Whether that is wise long term – Steve Harmison has already wondered aloud if the workload is “a worry” – is another conversation. Stokes himself insists he judges things by feel rather than spreadsheet, though medical staff will no doubt keep an eye on that hamstring.
Technically there are tweaks. Coaches say he has shortened his final stride and is bracing the front leg earlier, taking some load off the back. For non-technical readers: it means less wobble at the crease and more energy directed through the ball. The result is a fuller length that still hurries batters. Simple, but not easy.
India certainly noticed. Rohit Sharma’s edge in the first innings came from a ball that pitched on off stump and swung late; Shreyas Iyer’s lbw owed to a fuller, straighter line that seamed back. Even when wickets weren’t falling, Stokes forced quiet overs, allowing Woakes and Brydon Carse to rotate from the other end.
The fitness question will hover through the rest of the five-match series. England have a tight turnaround to Trent Bridge, and Stokes is unlikely to pipe down. He bowled 35 overs here; whether he can repeat that against a fresher Indian line-up is uncertain. But for now England have the all-rounder they remember – snarling, sleeves rolled, happy to do the dull yards.
Quietly that matters as much as any swashbuckling 150 with the bat. It takes pressure off a still-shuffling attack and gives Joe Root, now playing primarily as a specialist batter, a chance to think about runs instead of fourth-innings bowling plans.
There will be days when management must yank the ball from their captain’s hand. For the moment, though, Stokes’ obsession with fitness and a few subtle corrections have restored a key weapon to England’s armoury. If he stays on the park, the series scoreboard may tilt with him.
