I wrote this on Ben Stokes last week, as part of compiling some thoughts on the Ashes. It seems timely to publish this section now.
Now the Ashes have finally come to an end I felt compelled to get a few thoughts down on paper after an incredible time out here in Australia watching England and realising a childhood dream. I was fortunate enough to attend Brisbane, Perth and Melbourne and watch some iconic moments of test cricket. There is so much to talk about that it is hard to know where to start, but the major elephant in the room all series has been Ben Stokes, well the absence of him. It dominated the build-up to the series, so for part one let’s get that dealt with swiftly and move on.
Ben Stokes
The weeks leading up to the series were all about Stokes and whether he would travel and play. Having spent a vast some of money and altered my vague life plan to watch an Ashes series in Australia I felt entitled to see the best possible team represent England. But I can only imagine what some of the Barmy Army members would have spent altogether, they are far more entitled to seeing England’s best team give it their best. The fact Ben Stokes is one of the best players in the world and was sat twiddling his thumbs watching like the rest of us was hard to take. He is the exact sort of character you need to succeed in Australia. His character combined with his abundance of ability with bat and ball is a game changer and quite possibly a series changer. Whilst I understand 4-0 is a thrashing I can’t help but think things may have been different with him in the side.
However, it is all well and good wondering what if, but there comes a point where you have to begin to accept it for what it is. And what it was, was a complete and utter farce and difficult to accept without having someone to blame. I mulled over this for some time, days, weeks. I wanted someone to blame. Initially, I blamed the police and the authorities: Why was it taking so long to sort out? Can’t they just sort it out a bit quicker in special circumstances? No, they probably take as long as they need and that is that. Then I blamed the ECB: Why can’t he still play? Is he not innocent until proven guilty? And whilst of course he is innocent until proven guilty and to, some extent, I believe he should have been there playing regardless, I also looked at it from the ECB’s perspective. What would look worse; Stokes not travelling/playing till cleared or Stokes playing and then being summoned back to the UK to face trial mid series? Then I blamed the media: Did they blow it out of proportion? Did they know about the allegations of Stokes defending a homophobic attack? It reminded me of when John Terry was vilified six months before the 2010 World Cup and stripped of the England captaincy for an off the field incident. The media were to blame for that and totally sabotaged England’s chances in that tournament. But this was slightly different – Stokes had allegedly been caught on camera beating up some bloke. The media attention was certainly justified and his actions rightly scrutinised.
Then I realised. None of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Ben Stokes’ actions that night. He is the only person to blame. He let his team mates down, he let down the thousands who travelled to Australia down, everyone who stayed up late to watch, everyone who bought BT Sport for the Ashes down. Ben Stokes let the country down. No apology will ever change any of that.
With all that said, I sincerely hope the whole Stokes saga is finished soon and we can get back to enjoying him back in an England shirt ASAP!
Rob Baney 