THE GOOGLY: Stokes latest in a long line of maverick England allrounders

HUW TURBERVILL: One thing is sure - Ben Stokes is a force of nature; an unpredictable maverick; somebody who hasn't always played by the rules. And he's not the first England allrounder to be like that, let's face it...

^{England have had a fair number of maverick allrounders}

So Ben Stokes is a free man: the saga is finally over, at least when it comes to the law of the land. His cricket career is poised to resume, although people's perception of him, after what they heard from the court case in Bristol, will be subjective.

One thing is sure, though - he is a force of nature; an unpredictable maverick; somebody who hasn't always played by the rules. And he's not the first England allrounder to be like that, let's face it...

WG Grace, Tony Greig, Andrew Flintoff and - prime example - Sir Ian Botham... were cricketers unshackled. Fearless, indomitable, destructive. And capable also of amazing, Bacchanalian feats off the field. 

Why?

It is comforting being an allrounder, knowing that if you fail with the bat or ball, you can make amends in the second half of a (one-day) game. You have two chances. I am absolutely convinced this reassurance, or security blanket, gives the allrounder a licence to thrill.

^{Ian Botham after the 1981 Ashes win at Headingley}

Ben Stokes did not shine with the bat in the first Test at Edgbaston, but his second-innings bowling was pivotal. He is worth his place in the side alone as a batsman (probably) and bowler (certainly at the moment).

Flintoff was the key bowler in the 2005 Ashes, finding previously undetected weaknesses in left-handed geniuses like Adam Gilchrist (his batting - including that wondrous second-innings half-century at Edgbaston - was almost a bonus).

Botham was worth his place both as a batsman (with two centuries) in the 1981 Ashes and as a bowler (including that legendary spell of 5 for 1 in Birmingham).

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And this sense of self-worth must fuel these episodes off the field. The drinking, the Falstaffian revelry. 

By all accounts Botham is incredible company on a night out. Irrepressible, entertaining, warm... people have taken shifts to keep him entertained in the bar and when he cannot sleep... the brushes with the law borne out of a sense of being untouchable, unbeatable.

Ditto Flintoff. It would not have occurred to him that taking that pedalo out at the 2006/07 World Cup was a bad idea. Like King Cnut, he believed he could suppress the waves.

^{Andrew Flintoff celebrates the run out of Ricky Ponting at the Oval in 2009}

And Greig. When England boarded the plane from Australia in 1974/75, they were relieved to escape with their lives, such was the hostility and menace of Dennis Lillee and Jeff Thompson. But Greig? He only signalled his own fours when batting, making the umpires redundant.

Can you imagine how much that got up the noses of the Aussies? But he didn't care. If he failed with the bat, he always had the ball to fall back on it.

The same rules apply to Imran Khan and Garry Sobers.  

"There is a streak of madness in all the great allrounders," wrote Simon Barnes in the July issue of The Cricketer. "They seem, like the White Queen in Alice, to be capable of six impossible things before breakfast, and then they make that happen."

Hopefully Stokes will now comply with the rules off the field, and keep astounding us with his feats on it.