ENG vs WI | Old Trafford Day 5 Talking Points - Ben G.O.A.T Stokes and the DRS blessing

ByAnirudh Suresh, SportsCafe Editor

07/20/2020

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On a day that had ‘Ben Stokes’ written all over it, England rode on the confidence they have in their talisman as he, almost single-handedly, helped his side level the three-match series. Windies had some inspirational performances, too, but it wasn’t enough for them to stop the Stokes juggernaut.

Brief scores: England 469/9 dec and 129/3 dec beat West Indies 198 (Shamarh Brooks 62 and Broad 3/42) by 113 runs.

Is John Campbell running out of time?

We all know John Campbell can give the ball a proper tonk; we’ve seen it. His 179 versus Ireland last year was quite the exhibition. But is he, in the first place, a Test batsman and is it time that the management starts exerting more pressure and demanding more out of him? In the 16 knocks he has played so far in his Test career, there has been little evidence to suggest that he is a long term option who can thrive up the order. Yes, his aggressive style compliments Brathwaite and yes, he has had some promising knocks - or starts, rather - but the cutting edge in both his batting and his mindset seems to be missing.

His dismissal today - nicking the ball to the keeper via a loose drive to a ball outside off-stump that should have been left - raised a lot of questions about his temperament, for it’s simply not the kind of a shot you’d expect your opener to be playing when his only job is to be saving the Test match. His technique, too, has been rickety and even prior it getting exposed by Anderson, Broad and Archer this series, it was already proved to be ineffective by the Indian seamers in their tour of Windies last year where Campbell averaged 12.

Campbell’s spot has not come under the scanner as much as Shai Hope, yes, but with every passing innings, it feels like he is running out of time - to prove his credentials and make the spot in the side his own.

Bless the DRS; bless the extra review

DRS has received so much - unnecessary - hatred over the past few weeks, yet this series has established why cricket “needs” technology and why the existing system, albeit not being 100%, is very good, if not great. I mean, just think about it. So many - and I mean so, so many - crucial decisions in this series have been influenced by DRS, not least the LBW calls of Burns, Pope and Crawley on the very first day of the series.

Today was no different. For starters, Jason Holder - through his atrocious reviews - showed how technology can be a valiant weapon to waste time (although his top-order batsmen ensured that their skipper’s hard-thought tactics went to waste). Then you had England pull off a masterstroke by using it on Campbell despite the keeper not appealing, after which they squandered an opportunity to dismiss Shamarh Brooks due to a misjudgment. And all of this was enabled by the extra third review which gives leeway to all parties; it’s a pretty sound introduction.

At the end of the day, what needs to be understood is the DRS, as much as it exists to bring more accuracy to decisions, is also a tactic that needs to be implemented cleverly by teams. Have we had 100% correct decisions in this series? Not really. But have we had more correct decisions than we would have had, had technology not existed? Absolutely. And that’s the only thing that should matter. Strive for improvement, not perfection.

Ben Stokes is the best cricketer in the world

Stop it right there. Don’t argue with me. Don’t even try. Ben Stokes is the best cricketer in the world right now and there is no one who even comes remotely close to him. No, not Steve Smith; not Virat Kohli. Come to think of it, I think he might be the greatest match-winner of this century. He is England’s best batsman, he is England’s best bowler and he is their best fielder. He is the world’s best Test batsman and all-rounder - I don’t care about the ICC rankings - and he’s the single biggest workhorse in our sport. WHAT IS HE NOT?

He was the one who broke the 76-run stand between Brathwaite and Brooks in the first innings; he was the one who broke the 100-run stand between Blackwood and Brooks in the second. He was the one who bowled an ELEVEN OVER SPELL in the first innings to bring about the breakthrough; he was the one who once again bowled eleven overs continuously in the second - split as 8 and 3 before and after tea - to once again break a big partnership. He has now broken 41 fifty-run partnerships in his career and no bowler in the history of Tests (min 100 wickets) has taken more % of career wickets by breaking fifty-run stands (26.28%; 41 of Stokes 156 wickets have been fifty-run-partnership-breaking wickets).

All this and I’ve not even talked about his batting in this game - and in general - you know? A Tweet read, “What would England do without Stokes” and honestly, I cannot stop thinking about it. Benjamin Andrew Stokes is the best cricketer in the world and there’s nothing you can do about it.