Stokes loss is a huge blow as England chase biggest scalp of Bazball era

Times

4 days ago

The signs did not look good. On a cool, overcast Oval morning, Ben Stokes walked out to the middle but did not bother to unpack his kitbag. He watched his players practise in the nets for a while and then strolled back to the pavilion, shortly before announcing that he would miss the final Test against India with a significant tear of a shoulder muscle. His summer is over.
Stokes's leadership and his return to top form as an all-rounder — he was man of the match at Old Trafford for his first hundred and first five-wicket haul in Tests for two years and eight years respectively — means his absence is a huge blow as England look to claim their biggest scalp of the Bazball era, and gives India another boost after their successful rearguard action in Manchester.
It is also a massive disappointment for spectators before such a showpiece game. Although Stokes had intimated three days ago that he would be a likely starter at the Oval, he woke up very sore and stiff after Old Trafford, having bowled a long spell at the start of the fifth day. He went for a scan on Monday and the results, which came back on Tuesday, showed a grade-three tear, with a prognosis of six to ten weeks' recovery.
Stokes contemplated playing as a batsman only, but discussions with the medical staff quickly put paid to that. There was a chance of making the injury worse and so common sense has prevailed, even though the series remains live. England stand little chance in the Ashes without him and right now there is little danger of him missing the start of that tour, something he could put at risk by playing here.
Injuries are part and parcel of sport, of course, especially for someone at Stokes's age and stage of his career. Brendon McCullum had hoped, before the summer began, that Stokes would look after himself a little more, but the nature of the series and the nature of the man sucked his 34-year-old captain into some lengthy spells.
Having not bowled a spell of more than six overs in the first two Tests, Stokes bowled shifts of nine and ten overs at Lord's when, he said, he took himself into some 'dark places', and then one of eight overs at Manchester as he pushed for victory. He has bowled more overs (140) than he has ever bowled in a series before and is the leading wicket-taker on either side. His return as a bowler has been the biggest fillip of the summer for England, but there has been a price to pay.
It has been a peculiarly difficult series for bowlers in general because of the nature of the pitches and the schedule. The late-running Indian Premier League, an extensive home international fixture list (World Test Championship final, the Zimbabwe Test and sundry white-ball fixtures) and the ECB's determination to clear the decks in August for the Hundred means this series has been crammed into six weeks, between June 20 and August 4.
The gaps between matches have been uneven, with two lots of back-to-back Tests separated by only three days in each case, a challenge exacerbated by the moribund nature of the pitches, with every game going the distance. It means that, with four changes, England have a make-do attack, while India delayed naming their side, so it was unclear whether Jasprit Bumrah would join Rishabh Pant on the sidelines.
England have bowled 894 overs across the series, the most they will have sent down under McCullum and Stokes by the end of it. Like Stokes, Chris Woakes (167 overs) has bowled more overs in this series than any other in his career, and, though he has struggled with bat and ball, he remains the last man standing in a revamped attack.
The Oval pitch was looking very green a day out. Surrey have done well in recent seasons by bowling first and backing their seamers, and so there was little option, in the absence of Stokes, but to use Jacob Bethell and Joe Root as part-time spinners, thus retaining four seamers, with Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue replacing Brydon Carse, Jofra Archer and Liam Dawson.
Dawson's chances of making the Ashes have regressed after an ineffectual second innings in Manchester, and this will be only the second time in the McCullum era — the Ashes Test at Lord's in 2023 the other — where England have gone into a match without a specialist spinner. After making a fine impression in New Zealand at No3, Bethell will be given further opportunity in his first home Test, albeit at No6.
Ollie Pope leads in Stokes's absence. Given that Stokes is so important to the balance of the side, any stand-in captain would have his work cut out, and this attack would have been hard to predict at the start of the summer, just as it was 12 months ago when, with Pope leading, Sri Lanka won a Test on this ground against an attack of Josh Hull, Olly Stone, Shoaib Bashir, Atkinson and Woakes.
Shubman Gill described Stokes as a 'big miss' and the regret is that these two contrasting characters, who have been at the heart of everything this summer, will not get the chance to square off for the final round of what has been a fascinating and increasingly tetchy series. While Stokes has returned to his best as an all-rounder, Gill, too, has grown in stature as a player and leader having arrived here unproven in so many respects.
With 722 runs, he has enjoyed a phenomenal run with the bat. There are a number of records he could break this week, not least the one run he needs to surpass Garry Sobers for the most runs in a series made by a visiting captain in England. Sunil Gavaskar's record for the most runs in a series for an Indian batsman — 774 runs made in the Caribbean in 1971 — is under threat, as is Don Bradman's record of 810 runs, set in 1936-37, for the most runs scored by a captain in any series.
At times he has taken the wrong options with the team, picking conservatively and worrying too much about lower-order runs at the expense of taking wickets. Kuldeep Yadav, the wrist spinner, should have played at Leeds and Manchester, in particular, but they have missed that chance now that the weather has turned cooler and the pitch at the Oval is the greenest of the summer.
India is a country that is impatient for success on the cricket field, and anything other than victory here would bring their third consecutive Test-series defeat, an outcome that would place the head coach, Gautam Gambhir, under significant scrutiny. In his pre-match briefing Gill hinted that Bumrah remains under consideration, which would be a final boost for them as both teams stagger wearily to the finish line.
Fifth Test
England v India
The Oval
Thursday, 11am
TV Sky Sports Cricket