Sometimes, relationships come to an end.
England, a very modern cricket team, have been in bed with three men for the best part of four years. Rob Key, Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes.
Stokes has been the front man. And in the early days, it was McCullum who reined him in. Stokes wanted to go bigger, better, madder and further.
“There was a bit of me that wanted them to get 450, just to see what we’d do,” Stokes said after England chased 378 against India in 2022. At the beginning, Stokes elected himself as the lunatic-in-chief, charging down the wicket early in his innings to show his men that this is how far we can take it. There’s nothing to fear. Commit and be all in.
England, and Stokes, abandoned that in Adelaide. The consequence-free cricket they’ve played for so long was replaced with clamours to “fight” and that Stokes’ dressing room was “no place for weak men”.
They still lost – but they did so in a way that was more palatable to the masses, with a nod to the future of what England fans can expect from this team.
“I think there’s a lot of stuff that as a team that we can actually take forward with us,” Stokes said following defeat.
“Obviously it’s a pretty emotional time for me in the dressing room and the guys, players, management, backroom staff. But when we get ourselves together… I think we will take a lot out of this game and go, ‘this is how we can maybe apply ourselves to give us a better chance of being a much more consistent cricket team.’”
Stokes’ pivot to diplomacy makes him the most likely to remain in post following the series. Something will have to change, but Stokes is still seen as an inspirational leader, just one whose manifesto has worn thin.
There will be a certain sadness if he does continue, however sensible that decision may be. Stokes initially took the job with a vow of sticking to how he wanted to do it. Like or loathe the current regime, it has been different.
The pendulum following this Ashes defeat will swing in the other direction. Less golf, more skinfold tests, fewer beers, more forward defences. Sounds dull. To see Stokes in charge will be to see a man still in charge of England, but not of his team. We know what Stokes’ north star looks like, and it failed.
“Obviously sucks,” Stokes said of the overriding emotion following defeat. “Very disappointing knowing now that we can’t achieve what we set out to do.”
It would be in-keeping for his character, however, to offer his resignation were it to continue in this fashion, despite his post-match assertions that he has lost no appetite for the job. But a look around the changing room should hasten the ECB to ask him to reconsider if that offer does come.
There not being a better alternative is rarely a good reason to do anything, but what choices do England have? Harry Brook is the vice-captain of the Test team and white-ball captain but, really? Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley or the potentially dropped Ollie Pope are other options. Don’t laugh. Those are the names.
Tactically, Stokes has received criticism of late. Most recently from former Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin who described Stokes as a “captain you want to follow on effort” but “tactically is not great.”
A captain’s tactical ability is a moving target. The better your team, the better they make you look. Ricky Ponting is one of the greatest captains of all time, which in part, is in no small part because his major decision switched between who should bowl next out of Shane Warne or Glenn McGrath.
To that end, Stokes has been on a losing trajectory. His bowlers have performed poorly for large parts of the series. But they have also been haphazard with plans, with Stokes admitting as such following defeat in Perth where a Travis Head onslaught saw them lose in two days.
“I could have been a lot better as captain,” he said in the week following defeat. “I am the person who makes decisions about how we go out there and operate and I am the one who gives the plans to the bowlers. I wasn’t as clear as I normally am.”
Just as the blinding light of Bazball has faded, so too has some of the more creative, wacky plans we saw from England in the past. Arguably Stokes’ greatest tactical act as captain came in Rawalpindi in 2022, when England declared early, bowled bouncers with the new ball, then once the ball had scuffed, were able to make it swing. They won in the fading light.
Stokes’ power has been total. Only those with the stature of him and McCullum would have been able to make decisions such as moving James Anderson on, or plucking players from obscurity such as Shoaib Bashir or Josh Hull. This was their project, and the project is now coming to an end.
It was why there was a certain sadness in the dignity England showed in defeat in Adelaide, even if it was their strongest showing of the series to date. This was the group that was meant to be not for turning. Who were trying something new under a new-age leadership. But when push came to shove, they reverted to social norms.
It will appease the masses, but it wasn’t the foundation of what this team was built on. For years, they have been steadfast in their approach but in Adelaide, that changed. The future will look: normal.
