Ben Stokes’ 2022 one of Test revolutions, ODI retirement, T20 redemption and stunning captaincy in Rawalpindi | Cricket News

At the beginning of the year, the English cricket test looked broken.

The man who will eventually fix it is also a bit broken, with Ben Stokes having to battle a tense side in the fourth and fifth games of the Ashes series, England losing 4-0, a game The match took place in a more difficult setting, with a win in the 17 Match Tests.

But since then, Stokes has returned to normal and therefore, in an unbelievable way, has the British Test team. Under the Stokes captaincy and Brendon McCullum’s coaching methods, ‘Bazball’ was born. That wildly active brand of cricket has racked up nine wins from 10, where run-rate records have been broken and opposing bowling attacks battered. This is Ben Stokes’ England.

We got a glimpse, although we didn’t know at the time, of what Ben Stokes’ England would look like when he beat 89 runs in one session in a 114-ball game against the West Indies in September. 3, his first century since he returned from a mental breakdown and the death of his father, Ged.

Then, however, we glimpsed another glimpse of what England had served for about 18 months before – the collapse in batting – with the surrender in Grenada leaving the holidaymakers to received a 1-0 defeat in the series. Joe Root stepped down as captain shortly thereafter, with a man in a key position to succeed him.

Stokes seemed to be the only realistic candidate along with several others, other than him and Root, who secured a spot in the Team of the Year at the time. The experimental future of great bowlers Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad is even being rolled out with the duo being dropped from the West Indies series by interim men’s cricket chief Sir Andrew Strauss.

There have been questions raised about whether it is wise for England to empower their most important and influential player, especially one who retired the previous year to focus. into your health. Those questions quickly disappeared and now it seems amazing that they were even asked in the first place. Results and form have shown that Stokes is definitely the right man.

Shortly after his appointment and making it clear he wanted Broad and Anderson back to the England team, Stokes mocked Worcestershire’s bowling attack while batting for Durham in the County Championship. Seventeen six-balls were sucked in his 161 score from 88 balls – five of them in multiple serves from poor Pears spinner Josh Baker.

It was a round of flair and force, like the one he encouraged his English hitters to play in the Cricket Test. He got what he wanted. England have scored 22 points in the hundreds of Tests in 2022, many of them since Stokes came to power unbelievably fast.

It was a calculated, but by no means slow, 157-ball run from Root that gave the Stokes era a triumphant start on a cloudy Sunday morning against New Zealand at Lord. Any metaphorical clouds left over Britain were removed as they won the Test for the first time since August. There has been no look back. Win a lot. Run a lot. Fans love Test cricket again.

Stokes hit the winning line in the Next Test at Trent Bridge, in front of a packed crowd on Thursday who took advantage of the free ticket offer, but only after Jonny Bairstow blew the Black Hats all over Nottingham in a post-attack tea, reaching his century from just 77 balls.

The captain then had a follow-up recap at the end of the next two Tests, wearing his John Lennon sunglasses on the balcony as Root and Bairstow helped England to a stunning win over New Zealand at Headingley and India at Edgbaston. The successful chase against India, a record 378, was achieved in just 76.4 passes. England is four from four in part one of the Summer Trials.

Season two begins with the team’s only loss at the hands of Stokes to date – a grueling inning against South Africa at Lord’s – but rather than England being too aggressive, the conversation is down to them being too timid and pointy. The old weakness is back. Fans need not have worried. A Stokes-led response is coming, with England meeting Proteas at Emirates Old Trafford in a tie, a week after losing their own game in north London.

The captain was perhaps too skillful with the stick earlier in the summer when he tried to hit home the way he wanted his team to play but in the Manchester Test, on the day his Amazon documentary , Phoenix from the asheswas released, he scored an amazing 103 from 163 balls at perfect tempo.

Stokes was then the match-breaker with the ball a day later, knocking out South African hitters Keegan Petersen and Rassie van der Dussen in a blitzkrieg 14 before a second new ball before England won. within three days.

Great moment Ben is there again.

Winning three more days in the Final Test at the Kia Oval means a winning streak and a glorious golden summer. But how will Bazball perform in Pakistan in December? Pretty good, as it turned out. England swept away the admittedly depleted home team of pitchers 3–0, with victory at Rawalpindi possibly being Stokes’ best of his nine wins. as team captain. On the flattest pitches, his captaincy has reached new heights.

After seeing his team become the first to hit 500 points on the first day of the Test, Stokes’ bold statement at a tea party on day four places Pakistan in an attractive 343rd place. over four sessions, giving his team time to get 10 points and then he helped make sure they got them, delaying the use of the new ball while the old ball was reversing and then ending put it into play before spinner Jack Leach took the last racket with about 10 minutes left on Thursday.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a better week on the captain’s armband,” said Sky Sports Cricket’s Nasser Hussain. “Every decision Stokes makes is correct.”

Stokes went on to make smart decisions in the next two Tests – creative fields, wise changes in bowling – and some extremely bold decisions too – giving the athlete the spin. Foot Rehan Ahmed first debuted at 18 years and 126 days – when England won in Multan and Karachi, too.

Stokes’ smart and bold decisions over the past seven months have revolutionized the British Test team. After experiencing a series of nightmare Ashes last winter, England could become a nightmare for Australia next summer.

Meanwhile, Stokes’ year in white-ball cricket is a year of retirement in the 50-year-old format and redemption in the 20-year-old format.

The 31-year-old dropped out of the one-day international tournaments in July due to an “unsustainable” schedule, saying the players were “not cars you can fill up with gas”. Stokes’ decision is a reminder to the game organizers that if they want to see more of the best players, perhaps play less cricket.

However, Stokes continued to play T20 cricket and England are forever grateful to him for that.

His clever 52-turn no-pass secured victory over Pakistan in the World Cup final at the MCG, three years after his brilliant 84-turn failed to prove pivotal. key in securing victory over New Zealand in that unforgettable 50+ World Cup final at Lord.

Great moment Ben is there again.

Stokes, who had led England past Sri Lanka and into the semi-finals with another unbeaten run a week earlier in Australia, stood tall in the T20 World Cup final six years after collapsing and falling tears after smoking for four times in a row by Carlos Brathwaite of the West Indies during the 2016 rollout.

It was a complete change. But it was the Test spin he masterminded that Stokes’ year will be best remembered. The ashes that he and England felt in January now seem like a long time ago. From broken to record breaking, with the catalyst being Stokes.