Ben Stokes just shrugged, but Brendon McCullum and Zak Crawley placed a hand over their mouths and Mark Wood put both hands on his head in disbelief. Only Stokesy, they all thought.
It was indeed very on-brand for Stokes to take a wicket with his first delivery in 251 days, especially after making a “pinky promise” to the England medical team that he would not be suckered into bowling on this tour.
It was a beauty too, angling in, before leaving Rohit Sharma and beating the centurion on the outside edge, then flicking the outside of off stump, on day two of the fifth Test.
“He’s a freak isn’t he,” said England assistant coach Jeetan Patel. “It was almost written in the stars. There was a bit of amazement, a lot of people laughing.
“It’s funny because he came on to bowl as English crowds were waking up [6.45am GMT], they flick on the TV and that’s the first thing they see.”
For all the who-writes-his-scripts absurdity of the moment, in the context of this series, which went in Ranchi, and this match, which (barring another miracle) went in the first day collapse, it came too late.
As so often with Stokes, though, it was a partnership-breaking moment that improved England’s fortunes on a chastening day. India were 140 without loss before it, then lost 198 for seven from that point.
Zoom out a little, though, and this was an important development for both Stokes and his team. England need Stokes to bowl, and Stokes needs to bowl.
Since his chronic knee injury became so troublesome that he could no longer bowl, after the Lord’s Test last July, he has desperately struggled to balance his side. In the Ashes, they had to incorporate Moeen Ali – who had not made a Test fifty in four years – in the top seven, so they had enough bowling.
Injuries to Ollie Pope and Jack Leach actually spared England some very tricky conversations with established players.
In India, it has been even harder. England’s lack of an all-rounder has been exposed badly. Rehan Ahmed and Tom Hartley are not yet proficient enough batsmen for No 7, but Joe Root is the only member of the batting unit who bowls even part time.
The struggles of some batsman make it easy to wonder whether Liam Dawson or Will Jacks should have provided some balance from No 7, but that would have made it difficult for England to pick a wicketkeeper in the top six. Ben Foakes has never done that in Test cricket.
As the series has dragged on, Stokes’s own batting output has subsided, and he has taken on a Brearleyian air: captaining well while struggling with the bat in conditions he finds awkward. As a specialist No 6, an average of 21.9 does not cut the mustard.
Stokes loses a bit of himself when not bowling
He has found ways to contribute – the run-out of Ravindra Jadeja in Hyderabad and catch of Shreyas Iyer in Vizag spring to mind – but Stokes loses a bit of himself when not bowling. “It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid,” he said last summer. “Wanting to be involved with the game is something that’s got the best out of myself”.
These days, while his approach to batting is sensible and serious, playing himself in, his output is that of the inconsistent, high impact all-rounder. Back down a place at No 6, he has slipped out of the career phase – shall we call it his prime? – when he averaged 45 across 2019 and 2020.
England have so many mercurial batsmen in the top five that Stokes needs a second skill, which he has been acutely aware of as he worked his way back to fitness.
Even on the eve of this game, Stokes said that any ball he bowled would be a bonus and that the plan remained to return to all-rounder status this summer: First with a couple of games for Durham, then a possible T20 World Cup berth, before finally taking on full responsibility during the Test summer.
But, since his operation in November, he has done everything right, working relentlessly in the gym to shift 10kg, largely laying off alcohol and even avoiding golf so that his downtime is spent off his feet.
It has seen him lurch ahead of schedule in his return, and he was bowling at “100 per cent intensity” in short bursts before the third Test in Rajkot even began. His reticence to bringing himself into the attack sooner is understandable, given how quickly all that work could be undone.
It was only a five-over spell here, but that was enough to remind us what a fine bowler Stokes is. He has generally been a bowler for the big occasion, which is why his fourth innings average (25.6) is so good, but he is capable of all sorts of roles that often do not come easily to English quicks: he can be the enforcer, the big hooper, the reverse swinger.
“We all know how he can round our attack out,” said Patel.
Thought has been turning to how England might refresh their team for the home summer, but no change would be quite as transformative as Stokes at full throttle.
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