Ben Stokes has already surpassed the feats of Andrew Flintoff, and is well on his way to overtaking Sir Ian Botham as England’s greatest allrounder, according to James Anderson, who has reiterated his desire to carry on playing alongside his team-mate at least until the next Ashes tour of Australia in 2021-22.
However, speaking in the build-up to the third Test at Emirates Old Trafford – a match for which he hopes to be recalled after being rested for last week’s 113-run win – Anderson warned that the issue of workload was every bit as applicable to Stokes as to the rest of England’s ever-rotating seam attack, after an extraordinarily wholehearted display.
Not content with a total of 254 runs across two of the most vastly contrasting innings ever compiled in a single Test match, Stokes also chipped in with three wickets, including a vital last-day breakthrough that set England up for a series-squaring win. And, at one stage in the victory push – with attacking fields leaving no men in front of the bat – he sprinted full-tilt to the long-off boundary to intercept a straight drive off his own bowling.
“Ben was very stiff yesterday after doing pretty much everything over the five days of that Test match,” said Anderson. “He was chasing balls off his own bowling, he batted for most of our two innings, and he got wickets as well. It can take its toll so we’ve got to look after him and make sure we can keep getting the best out of them for as long as possible.”
Anderson is perhaps uniquely placed to pass judgment on Stokes’ status among England allrounders. He played alongside Flintoff in 25 Tests in his formative years in the England set-up, between 2003 and 2009, during which time Flintoff transformed into the world-beating cricketer who dominated the 2005 Ashes. Then in Antigua in 2015, Anderson overhauled Botham’s longstanding figure of 383 to become England’s leading Test wicket-taker, and has since added more than 200 scalps to reach his current tally of 587.
Stokes’ sheer weight of numbers don’t yet match up to those of Botham, who also amassed 5200 runs in his 102-Test career. And yet, in 45 Tests since the start of 2016, Stokes’ averages rise to 43.60 with the bat and 28.00 with the ball – reminiscent of Flintoff’s three-year zenith between 2003 and 2006, when he averaged 41.30 and 27.78 in 38 Tests. Since the start of the 2019 Ashes, Stokes has averaged 59.38 with the bat alone.
“He’s certainly the best allrounder I’ve ever played with,” Anderson said, “and he’s becoming the best allrounder that England’s ever had. There’s no reason why he can’t go on to become even better. With the bat he’s averaging in the 40s, with the ball he’s below 30, and he’s taking spectacular catches. It’s just incredible that we’ve got him on our team and he’s great to watch.”
Stokes’ display in Manchester enabled him to overhaul West Indies’ captain Jason Holder as the No.1 allrounder in the ICC’s player rankings, and he has risen to No.3 in the batting rankings too – with only Australia’s Steve Smith and India’s Virat Kohli sitting above him at present. After the match, England’s captain, Joe Root, dubbed him “Mr Incredible” in tribute to a performance that evoked his game-changing displays with ball and bat at Headingley last summer.
“It’s hard to say how good he is because it’s hard to find the words,” added Anderson. “Joe said the other day we were in the presence of greatness and he’s spot on. He gets into any team as a batsman, while his bowling gets better and better each time he goes out there. It’s just amazing to have that talent in our team, and to be able to watch it first-hand as well was amazing.” (Cricinfo)
