Ben Stokes unfazed by Bazball backlash as England brace to go again،
“That sounded interesting, didn't it? I don't know. I can't say much.” This is perhaps the most diplomatic response Ben Stokes has given in India so far.
Going into this tour, England have made a conscious effort not to complain about pitches. Like any home team, organizing a surface on their own terms was India's prerogative. Complaining about it doesn't do much but makes you look like sore losers and, worse, creates paranoia within your own ranks. The internal message was simple: deal with it. The preparation in Abu Dhabi, on raked and sanded strips, was done with this in mind.
They largely stuck to that – DRS criticism aside, of course. Locations in Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Rajkot have been excellent throughout their journey, evolving to offer variety and ultimately rewarding quality. And, according to the score of 2-1, India has been the better team so far.
Things are about to change in Ranchi, so to speak. The tourists were greeted at the JSCA International Stadium by what they saw as a strange 22-meter strip. Two days into Friday, it was already cracked, with plates that some players expect to shift under pressure.
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen anything like this before so I have no idea,” Stokes said when asked how it might play out. “I don’t know what could happen.
“If you looked at one side of the opposite ends, it looked different from what I'm used to seeing, especially in India. It was green and grassy in the changing rooms, but when you go there, “It was different. Very dark and crumbly, with quite a few cracks.”
England had a feeling these conditions would be the most unusual of the series when it was announced that Jasprit Bumrah would be rested for the fourth Test. Bumrah's 17 wickets at 1:64 p.m. came in a variety of situations and deliveries, and India won't mind having more on offer for their spinners in his absence. Especially with a 2-1 lead.
England must grin and bear it. As vice-captain Ollie Pope observed: “If the first ball spins, I guess it's a level playing field.”
As such, Stokes plans to return to the high-spin attack of the first two Tests, although he will wait for a final look on Thursday before deciding whether to bring in spinner Shoaib Bashir for James Anderson. Another option, particularly if England anticipate a short game dominated by the need to score quickly in rotating conditions, could be to strengthen the batting with Dan Lawrence replacing Anderson. Although he is yet to play a Test under Stokes, the England management have long rated his positive approach, while his own idiosyncratic spin-off is known to extract a tight corner.
The only certainty at this stage is that Ollie Robinson will replace Mark Wood, who spent a lot of energy in the Third Test defeat and needs rest.
This has been an intriguing tour for Robinson. He has remained almost entirely in the shadows, having spent his final series as one of the main protagonists. His last competitive match was the third Ashes Test at Headingley, where he was restricted to just 11.2 overs in the first innings before a back spasm ruled him out of the remainder of the series. He had been Australia's main antagonist until then, doing much off the field while making a modest impact, with just nine wickets at an average of 28.40.
The six months between the last of those 19 Test caps and the preparation for this tour were well spent. He shaved about 20 seconds off his 2km time in a fitness workout that left him looking slimmer and better equipped for the rigors of the energy-intensive work that India demands of tailors.
For a player publicly castigated for his lack of fitness by former bowling coach Jon Lewis during the 2021/22 Ashes, omitted by Stokes for the first series of the 2022 summer against New Zealand and asked by his captain to getting in shape, then not playing a full game last summer, is a big moment for Robinson. Two undulating years offer a talented cricketer with 76 career dismissals at 22:21 the opportunity to make an impact in a high-profile series. The must-win Test will be the 30-year-old's first in India.
Robinson didn't go through the motions while on the periphery in this series. His partner, Mia Baker, is away for the duration of the tour, and the two recorded a few episodes of their podcast, “Chatting Balls,” and played a few rounds of golf in their free time.
More importantly, Robinson maintained a high standard at nets, demonstrating skills that worked so well in Pakistan last winter on similar seam-averse decks. This did not go unnoticed.
“I think he worked incredibly hard while he was here,” Stokes said. “And it's difficult for someone like Ollie, who has been such a big part of the game over the last couple of years, where he hasn't taken part in any games and the things he's done in outside of the game itself have been very good.
“I told him today that he was a great example of doing the right things and waiting his turn if it comes. Not playing the first three Tests can be difficult and disappointing. But the way he cracked and got his fitness bits in place and don't let disappointment get in the way of a potential chance that could present itself in this series.
“He has incredible skills to become a successful bowler anywhere in the world. What we saw in England is that he is very skilled, but we saw more than that in Pakistan. It's similar but different here, but the skills he has, he can find any move, and his release point will always be dangerous.
“The skill will always be there. But since that conversation [in 2022] he worked on everything that I thought would get the best out of him, but also the team. Having Ollie Robinson able to bowl three spells and back them up the next day will do any team good.
Stokes would not be drawn into making any definitive statements on selection, not until he gets a final glimpse of the field on Thursday afternoon. That meant remaining coy about his participation as an all-around player.
He played against Jonny Bairstow for 35 minutes during Wednesday's training session – the first time he played against a hitter following surgery on his left knee in November. A possible breaking of the “little promise” made with touring physio Ben Davies that he would not play in India should be covered by a beer. Before that, Stokes wants to see how he recovers after his longest spell bowling during this rehabilitation period.
“My knee itself was perfectly fine today bowling,” he said. “It was just good to break the 20-minute barrier, that's what I'm working on at the moment. It might be a little hard but we'll wait and see.”
As a collective, the last few days have been focused on emotional recovery after the 434-run knockout in Rajkot. The most galling defeat of the Bazball era – and there have been only six, compared to 14 wins in 21 Tests – led to a backlash against the new movement. Was Stokes surprised by the reaction?
“No, it's sport, isn't it,” he shrugged. “You get some applause when it goes well and a little crap when it doesn't. That's part of it. I've been around long enough to know that, but we keep going.”
His immediate reaction to the defeat was to gather the players in the away locker room and warn them of criticism from outside their circle of trust, as well as the need to shake off the defeat as quickly as possible. Still, he appreciates that individuals have their own thoughts on what went wrong, which he sees as a good thing.
“Me, as a person, and I'm sure all the players in the dressing room have thought about this match in one way or another. But in terms of the result, no.
“I think as long as everyone thinks about a match, whether you perform well or not, and it gives you a chance in the next match to do something better, I think that's the best way to look at things, rather than I think too much about the outcome, that's kind of how I look at victories, defeats, whatever they may be.
You can have a good game and lose, and a bad game and win, so thinking about your performance as an individual is the most important thing to do, rather than thinking about the result itself. So many things go into at stake in a Test match and focusing only on the outcome of the game is not the best form of thinking.”
This group has demonstrated its ability to reverse the trend. An innings-opening defeat at Lord's in the South African series two summers ago was followed by two dominant victories. Similarly, a 2-0 deficit against Australia last summer, with Philosophy under immense pressure, was dramatically turned around to level the Ashes at two. Stokes says it is about preserving “a fairly balanced atmosphere”, which he will carry into a match that either keeps the series alive or sends England to a third consecutive series without a win.
“That’s just what we’re good at, taking each game as it comes,” he said. “That’s what we’ve done since I started as captain and we’re going to go out there and try to play to the best of our ability.
“You'll have good days and bad days, good games and bad games. Going out there and sticking to the way we know allows us to play our best cricket is what we're constantly focused on .This is what we will do in this game, the next game and other games too.
