Combination of talent and wisdom makes Ben Stokes an exemplar allrounder

PAUL EDWARDS: Watch Ben Stokes in the Tests this summer. In years to come your children and grandchildren will marvel that you saw such wonders

It has often puzzled me why wicketkeepers and captains are not regarded as allrounders when both groups of cricketers are skilled in two disciplines. It is rare these days to find a keeper who does not offer something substantial with the bat, and a clueless skipper can ruin all but the very best of sides.

How many Test wickets might Shane Warne have taken had not Australia found wicketkeepers of the quality of Ian Healy and Adam Gilchrist? Yes, probably still a helluva lot; truly great cricketers will prosper regardless. But not 708, I think. In a similar but contrasting vein Lancashire’s old players always insisted they would have won a couple of titles in the 1950s had they not been led by Cyril Washbrook.

To limit the definition of allrounder to someone who bats and bowls and then to confine it further by stipulating that his batting average should exceed his bowling average underestimates the diversity and richness of cricket, one of the very few sports which also requires some players who are highly skilled in one field to demonstrate their incompetence in another. Think Phil Tufnell’s batting.

When Duncan Fletcher became England coach, he insisted tailenders should try to contribute something with the bat. It was no longer enough that seamers should bowl their overs, have a slog and lumber around in the field. The fact that everyone must bat and field makes all cricketers allrounders, albeit in a radically different way than is generally accepted.

The fielding of those fine South African players, Colin Bland and Jonty Rhodes, was of such a high standard that they saved runs and threatened to take wickets far more effectively than some members of their attacks. In the 1965 Lord’s Test, Bland ran out Ken Barrington and Jim Parks with direct hits from cover point. The accuracy of his throwing was so phenomenal that Sportsview, a BBC magazine programme, ran a feature on it.

But cricketers frequently make contributions that cannot be shown on the scorecards. Just over a week ago journalists covering the Old Trafford Test had their breakfasts disrupted by the news that Jofra Archer had been withdrawn from the squad for breaking England’s lockdown rules.

^{Stokes will likely play in the final Test solely as a batsman, but his all-round influence remains}

Inevitably there was a lot of criticism of the 25-year-old, not least because he had jeopardised the series and the receipt of tens of millions of pounds upon which the future of English cricket will depend. Much of the comment was fair enough but I noticed that one of his team mates quickly came to Archer’s aid, if not his defence. That player was Ben Stokes.

There was no attempt to excuse or explain Archer’s error. That was wise, because the player had been extremely foolish. But there was a measure of broader understanding. “We really need to be there to support Jofra right now because obviously it is a big talking point,” said Stokes.

“He is by himself because of everything going on but it is about making sure he doesn’t feel like he is by himself. It is all good being there for people when things are going well and smoothly. What really comes through is how you operate with someone when they need you most.”

The rather obvious response to Stokes’s comment was that the England allrounder was well placed to express such views given his own indiscipline in 2017 and his subsequent exclusion from that winter’s Ashes series. Perhaps so, but I think there was more to it. The allrounder’s views reflect a wider appreciation of what a team requires if it is prosper over a five-day Test match, a five-Test series, a five-month tour.

One of the continuing fascinations of cricket – and the reason why it demolishes relationships – is that it takes so long to play. I would bet that club cricketers discover a lot more about their colleagues over a season than friends who play other sports.

For example, unless you are a batsman enjoying a golden season you will spend nearly half the game in the pavilion with eight colleagues. (That may be six if umpires are not provided.) You learn a lot about people and that knowledge may be deepened by what you see on the field.

The opportunities to encourage, console, suggest and, at times, bollock are enormous. Stokes can perform the latter role, too. I recall that during one of last autumn’s Tests against New Zealand Archer produced a piece of particularly lazy fielding that cost a run. Stokes, who wasn’t bowling at the time, was plainly annoyed. “This is a Test Match,” he barked.

It seems to me that Stokes’s comments to and about Archer revealed his understanding of his wider responsibilities within the England squad. All other players have similar duties but we have less evidence suggesting how they discharge them. Stokes, however, possesses an instinctive understanding of people that could not be learned during any university course. That is why, unless there is a dearth of candidates, there will be little point making him England captain. Ben Stokes will be a leader for as long as he plays the game. And yes, he is also the best allrounder in the world.

^{Stokes' 176 is added to the Emirates Old Trafford honours board}

And I have some unusual evidence to back up my case. One of the very best cricket books I have read in the past couple of years is a novel, The Test, by Nathan Leamon, who is one of England’s analysts. Just as there are relatively few good poems about cricket, there are only a handful of good novels about the game.

Leamon manages to give readers a flavour of what an England dressing room might be like by the simple tactic of putting aspects of real people, albeit tweaked a little, into situations that are fictional but authentic. However, he admitted in the aftermath of last year’s Headingley Test that Rob, the official England skipper in the book, is based on Stokes and I will take the liberty of quoting a quite long passage about the character:

He is genuinely a person apart, our captain; different both in kind and degree to anyone I’ve known. It is difficult to describe, hard to capture his presence well enough for someone who has never met him to understand. He is the centre of any room. So solid he makes the world around him seem fainter, like an explosion of power at rest.

It’s the eyes that tell you first.

The eyes say, ‘I see you.’

And the Viking arms, that could sack the monastery at Lindisfarne, then pull an oar for a day and not notice.

His handshake is like two feet calmly planted on firm ground. Whatever it is that comes before Alpha.

The eyes that come and meet you just your side of halfway. ‘I see you’ they say.

Sportspeople will always be judged by different standards to the rest of us. Most of the time our mistakes are our business; all of the time their errors are public property. And the situation is made no better by sections of the media who insist on seeing such folk as either demigods or root vegetables. The truth is they are often quite ordinary individuals with remarkable talents. Yet some kind souls seem to think it their right to bite a chunk out of their lives.

Yet at times of private distress or public blunders it is helpful to have your friends around you. That is why during a Test match in which he batted brilliantly and bowled well, Stokes’ most notable contribution may have been to reassure his young colleague that he wasn’t alone.

We are tempted to look back on past eras of our game and think how fine it might be if we could watch such cricketers today. Maybe it would be better to give more attention to the great players performing before our eyes in deserted stadia at a strange time. So watch Ben Stokes in the Tests this summer. In years to come your children and grandchildren will marvel that you saw such wonders.

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