second Test match report, Ben Stokes batting average, struggles against spin, stats, age, wicket day 5

In the aftermath of England’s 336-run thrashing by India at Edgbaston, the English press have turned their attention to captain Ben Stokes’ diminishing returns with the bat.

There were many things to dissect from England’s disappointing display including their inability to fight harder with the bat to hang on for a draw, their bowling woes and Stokes’ decision to send India into bat on a flat pitch on which India became just the sixth side in Test history to score more than 1000 runs in a match.

But despite England’s many problems, there has been a strong focus on Stokes being one of several English batters to miss out during the run fest as it heightened concerns about his two-year form slump with the bat.

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The England skipper was dismissed for his first golden duck in Test cricket in the first innings, copping a brute of a delivery from Mohammed Siraj that rose sharply off the lifeless surface, caught the shoulder of the bat and flew through to gloveman Rishabh Pant.

Stokes was hardly the only problem as six English batters fell for ducks in the first innings, which was salvaged by Jamie Smith’s unbeaten 184 from 207 deliveries and Harry Brook’s 158 from 234 balls.

But alarm bells began to sound on the final day as Stokes fell lbw for 33 from 73 balls to a big in-drifter from right-arm off-spinner Washington Sundar in the last over before lunch.

It came about as a result of Indian brilliance as Ravindra Jadeja raced through the previous over in roughly 90 seconds to ensure Sundar had another a chance before the interval, and the delivery that crashed into Stokes’ front pad before his pad was emblematic of his recent struggles.

Day one of the second Test marked two years to the day since Stokes’ last Test century, a defiant hundred in a losing cause against Australia at Lords following the carnage of the infamous Jonny Bairstow stumping.

In the time since the most recent of his 13 Test centuries, the 34-year-old has scored 886 runs at 30.55 with seven half-centuries.

Those fifties include crucial first innings knock to help set up victories against Australia in Leeds, India in Hyderabad and New Zealand in Christchurch.

They are far from disastrous numbers for a swashbuckling batter, who was a fortnight ago hailed by former England quick Steve Harmison as their country’s best ever captain for pioneering the Bazball philosophy alongside coach Brendon McCullum.

But in the series so far against India, Stokes has managed scores of 20, 33, 0 and 33 at the surprisingly low strike rate of 48.58 given his, and his team’s, desire to attack with the bat.

Making matters worse, his opposite number Shubman Gill smashing 269 and 161, meant he outscored Stokes by 397 runs in the match, the largest gap between two captains in the history of Test cricket.

The comfortability of Gill and the Indian batting line-up no doubt played a part in Stokes’ post-match complaints that the pitch was too similar to subcontinental batting-friendly surfaces.

“It probably ended up being more of a subcontinent pitch … with the Indian attack and the conditions they are used to, they were able to expose it better than us,” Stokes told the BBC.

These comments were mocked given Stokes famously requested batter-friendly pitches for the 2023 Ashes, saying: “We want flat, fast wickets. We want to score quickly.”

The pitch also did not bode well for the left-hander as his recent statistics reveal he is stuck in a stranglehold against spin.

Perhaps the figures are slightly inflated by tours of India and Pakistan, but ESPN Cricinfo’s senior correspondent Matt Roller wrote that “his dismissal to Sundar felt almost inevitable: 16 of his 25 Test dismissals since the start of last year have been to spinners, and he is averaging 18.43 against spin in that time. It has been a barren run”.

They are numbers that may have Nathan Lyon licking his lips ahead of the Ashes, given he has dismissed Stokes nine times in Tests, second only to retired Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin with 13.

The Guardian’s senior sports writer Andy Bull adopted a similar tone of doom and gloom after watching Stokes against India’s spin duo of Jadeja and Sundar.

He wrote that once the morning showers had cleared from the Birmingham sky, Stokes presented as the last chance for England to maintain their 1-0 lead before heading to Lords.

Although, no one was particularly full of faith in him in adding another famous innings of defiance to his collection that includes his 155 on the unforgettable final day at Lords two years ago, his unbeaten 115 against Australia at the same venue in 2019 and his 120 in Perth in 2013 in just his second Test match.

“So in came Ben Stokes, England’s last hope now the clouds had blown over. Strange to say about a man who’s performed so many wonders, but it felt like no hope at all,” Bull wrote before going onto reference Greek mythology.

“Stokes is just the sort of man you might hire to slay the Nemean lion, but it’s less obvious that he’s the one you would send in with a shovel to muck out the Augean stables.

“Time was when he could do it for you. It’s easy to forget, among everything else he’s done for England, that he’s played a series of rearguard innings over the years for captains before him, 66 off 188 balls against New Zealand in 2018, 62 off 187 against India at Trent Bridge later that same year.

“But anyone who’s watching knows those days are a way behind him.”

Bull went on to describe the way Jadeja toyed with Stokes by firing deliveries into the rough outside the left-hander’s off stumps as “like watching a grizzly bear try to solve a Rubik’s cube”.

Former Indian batter Mohammed Kaif gave Stokes a far bigger whack on social media, saying he “never understood the hype around Ben Stokes the captain”.

“On a flat track with sun shining he decides to bowl, today with some life in pitch edges flying but no extra slip,” Kaif added.

“Batsmen took England to win in first Test but Stokes didn’t score many. Please inform if I have missed any of his hidden leadership master stroke.”

Of course, an underwhelming start to a home summer has played a key role in the narrative around Stokes’ batting coming to the surface.

But it has also not reared its head as it has largely bubbled away beneath the myriad of fitness issues surrounding Stokes.

The England captain has long held knee problems and injured his hamstring twice last year.

He first did it playing in The Hundred in between home Test series against the West Indies and Sri Lanka, the latter which he missed as Ollie Pope took the reins.

That same hamstring injury kept him out of the first Test against Pakistan, and then lightning struck twice in the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton.

Stokes hobbled away from the bowling crease in the third innings of the game after sending down 36.2 overs with the ball.

The resulting surgery ruled him out for three months at the start of the year, but Stokes rejected suggestions to forgo bowling in the twilight of his career to focus on his batting.

He is determined to play as a true all-rounder, and his bowling has stood up so far this English summer, taking nine wickets across three Tests against India and Zimbabwe to support his misfiring attack.

But it may have come at the cost of ensuring his batting was match ready.

“The narrative around Stokes across his two years without a hundred has centred on his bowling, and his fitness to do so, amid a chronic knee injury and two torn hamstrings,” The Telegraph’s cricket news correspondent Will Macpherson wrote.

“He has worked outrageously hard on his physical fitness in a bid to reclaim his full status as an all-rounder and key member of England’s attack. Based on his bowling in the first three Tests of this summer, that has been achieved, which is a fine feat aged 34.

“But perhaps the focus on his bowling has come at a cost to his batting.

“England’s approach to rehabilitating injured bowlers – Stokes, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood – is to build them up in the nets, not in matches for their county or the Lions.

“Archer will return to Test cricket having played just one first-class game. Stokes went into the first Test of the summer against Zimbabwe without having played at all for six months, then declined a game for the Lions against India A.

“Bowling might be about physical robustness, which can be built in the gym and nets, but the other side of the Stokes package, batting, is about rhythm, which can surely be achieved only in the middle.”

Stokes has simply lacked time in the middle of late.

He re-entered ODI retirement after the 2023 World Cup, he has been rarely sighted in T20 cricket in recent times because of injury and his focus on Test cricket, but is unsighted for county side Durham this season.

With three most Test matches to go in the series against India, Stokes desperately needs to find some rhythm.

“Since the start of last year, Stokes has faced only 1280 balls in professional cricket, limited heavily by knee and hamstring injuries; the next fewest among England’s top seven is Zak Crawley with 2414, while Joe Root has faced 4,523,” Roller wrote.

“If batting is a skill that relies on rhythm and tempo, then Stokes has been dancing to a very different tune.”

For Stokes, there is no better place to do so than Lords given his name features on the illustrious honour boards three times.

Although, he did fall for a pair in his only Test against India at the famed ground, back in 2014.

He was castled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the first innings batting at number eight, and then he skied a pull shot to Cheteshwar Pujara off the bowling of Ishant Sharma for another duck in the second innings, batting at number seven.

Stokes came in behind wicket-keeper batter Matt Prior in that Test, and was only at eight due to the use of Liam Plunkett as a night watchman in the first innings.

It is a set up that many believe he should replicate now.

Jamie Smith’s excellence with the bat prompted CricViz analyst and commentator Ben Jones to suggest that it is “probably time to swap them in the order now”.

Stokes batted at seven in New Zealand to accommodate Pope’s move to six while he took the gloves in Smith’s absence.

Jacob Bethell batted three on that Tour, but has been unable to break back into the England XI upon Smith’s return.

ESPN Cricinfo’s Cameron Ponsonby believes the struggles of off spinner Shoaib Bashir will result in England doing away with a specialist tweaker when they come to Australia, instead opting for the Bethell and Root to fill the void with Stokes sliding down to eight, lengthening the batting order.

The Telegraph’s Will Macpherson agrees that a slide further down the order may help Stokes by removing some of the burden of batting, bowling and captaining.

He initially took to the Test captaincy with aplomb, averaging 39 in his first year in charge, but his averages fell to 28 last year and 19 so far this year.

As he is an ageing player, Stokes may benefit from a lesser load.

“In the early days of his career, the theory was that Stokes would grow with responsibility; if you batted him at No 8, he would bat like a tailender; bat him at No 5, he would bat like a batsman,” Macpherson said.

“During his true peak as a batsman, between 2019 and 2020, Stokes batted at No 5, and reached the top three of the ICC’s Test batting rankings. He now sneaks into the top 40.

“Stokes has so much authority in this side that the removal of some responsibility might be helpful.”