Resurgent Ben Stokes finds just reward in risking fitness for sweet England century

An evening’s rest didn’t change much. Most of India’s morning was of the hands-on-hips variety, an homage to a crestfallen Dwight Schrute listening to Everybody Hurts, 135 overs in the field to blame. Jasprit Bumrah found space to detonate the top of Liam Dawson’s off-stump but Brydon Carse – half-centurion at Lord’s, beefing up England’s tail at 10 – remained at ease.

This was a welcome situation to end the drought. Ben Stokes had a mixed Friday, sliding into Joe Root’s passenger seat, taking his customary blow to the box on 13, then retiring hurt with leg cramp on 66. He returned before the close, finishing unbeaten on 77 to guarantee Old Trafford’s attention when play resumed on Saturday. It had been nearly two years since his last century in any game.

There was a bit of tension on 99. He found air with an attempted cover drive off Bumrah, faced three dots off Washington Sundar and one off Siraj. But a glance down the leg side for four prompted a look to the skies and an arm round Carse as he waved the bat. With it he became the fourth Englishman to hit a hundred and take a five-wicket haul in the same Test, the kind of stat you would have expected him to already hold, Ian Botham having done it five times.

Stokes has had it tough with the bat over the past couple of years, underlined by the absence of a Test hundred since his pyrotechnics in the Ashes. But while he isn’t the miracle man anymore, the drop in form has never been severe. Seven matches in Asia, conditions he’d never mastered on previous tours, have contributed to the quiet period, as have his hamstring troubles, ruling him out of four Tests last year. Five innings at home against West Indies last summer returned three half-centuries and there were several starts in this series before Old Trafford (including a peculiar run of three consecutive second-innings 33s).

View image in fullscreen England’s Ben Stokes hits a six. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

His 141 here was not one of the classics, having come out to bat when his side trailed India by nine runs. Even if there was a touch of magic with a one-two off Sundar – six down the ground was immediately followed by an outrageous reverse sweep to the ropes – it came after England had crossed 600, the first time they had done so at home in 14 years.

What the knock did was add to Stokes’s story this summer, that of the resurgent player. Much of the past three years has been about his position as captain, how he directs England in the field and instructs the team to play. When he has missed matches, how Ollie Pope goes as the stand-in leader has felt more pressing than the runs and wickets lost in his absence. But Stokes has lived up to his post on X in December after tearing his left hamstring, promising to “fuck some shit up” when he returned. He is still very much a cricketer, not just a fount of wisdom at mid-off or coach with whites on. He has found nip and danger under the sun, taking more wickets than anyone else in this series. He has the score now, too.

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But being a 34-year-old fast-bowling all-rounder brings significant risk. The last of Botham’s ton-and-five-wicket-haul combos was at the age of 28. On Friday evening Pope acknowledged Stokes’s batting retirement as the result of how much he had pushed his body in recent weeks. How he would move in the field after facing 198 deliveries was the next issue. When Chris Woakes took two in two in his opening over, it felt a bit irrelevant, and continued to do so when Jofra Archer found late swing into Shubman Gill after lunch.

Then came Gill and KL Rahul’s resistance, and the question of when Stokes would bowl, this being the perfect situation for his right-arm heat. On came Carse, then Dawson, and Root got it to twirl, too. Stokes stuck to the director’s chair, resuming his role of late, his fitness unclear, every walk to the stumps a tease, his cap still on as he discussed tactics with the bowler.

“He’s a bit stiff and sore,” revealed Marcus Trescothick, England’s batting coach, at the end of play, no certainty offered on whether Stokes will bowl on the final day. “He’s had quite a big workload in the last few weeks. And then batting in the first innings, he was getting quite a bit of cramp. Hoping with another night’s rest and a bit more physio work overnight he’ll be back in and doing a bit tomorrow.

“You’ll probably see Joe Root bowl a little bit more if he’s not available, but let’s wait and see. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it will be OK by tomorrow.” Stokes has rediscovered his rhythm, but the pain remains.

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