Will Stokes be around to stay tall?

No praise for skipper Ben can be too high after he pulled England from a 0-2 deficit to square the Ashes series at The Oval on Monday, but winning on Australian soil could the sweetest icing on the cake

Ben Stokes deserves every accolade that has come his way for all but leading England to an Ashes win. Probably, the 2-2 scoreline was a fair result, with the Australians failing to win yet another Ashes series on English soil.

Hardcore Australia fans would be disappointed with the result and that’s understandable because 22 years is a long wait for an Ashes capture on enemy territory. Ricky Ponting (in 2005 and 2009), Michael Clarke (2013 and 2015), Tim Paine (2019)—all didn’t have the honour of winning a series in England after Steve Waugh’s men did so in 2001.

Meanwhile, England supporters couldn’t have asked for a better result at The Oval after rain robbed the hosts of a win at Manchester. 

That Stokes has played an integral part in denying Australia that urn in three consecutive England-hosted Ashes series does wonders for his cricketing CV. 

Michael Vaughan, who led England to a historic Ashes in 2005, reckons Stokes can end up being the greatest England captain for the way he has led a team that has changed the way Test cricket is played. 

Stokes has already earned the right to be called a great England captain, who has won 13 out of 19 Tests. Of course, he’ll probably have to win a series in Australia to give that ‘great’ tag more weightage. Whether he will be around for the next Ashes in Australia two and a half years later is the big question. 

England captains who have led their teams to triumphs on Australian soil have enjoyed exalted status. Douglas Jardine did not top the popularity charts for subjecting Bill Woodfull’s Australian team to Bodyline bowling. He was dogged and determined in his quest to blunt Don Bradman’s run-making and he did so. Bradman averaged 56.57 over four Tests in the notorious 1932-33 series, but the batting legend averaged 201.50 in his previous series—against South Africa in 1931-32.

Jardine led England to a 4-1 win in the Australian summer of 1932-33, with pace terror Harold Larwood being his main weapon. Since Jardine, only five England captains have experienced series wins in Australia. Len Hutton led a successful team in 1954-55 and was aided to a large extent by pacers Frank Tyson and Brian Statham. Tyson was terrifying, accumulating 28 wickets over five Tests in a 3-1 result. 

In A Typhoon Called Tyson, the late fast bowler wrote of his captain Hutton: “I have good reason to know that Len Hutton was a shrewd judge of cricket, its players 
and situations.”

Ray Illingworth was the next England captain to win a series in Australia and he had John Snow as his pace ace. Snow was viewed as a difficult man to handle, but Illingworth got the best out of him and even became the first Test captain to walk off along with his team in response to Snow being manhandled by a spectator at the Paddington end of the Sydney Cricket Ground. When things calmed down, Illingworth & Co returned and what followed was England’s 2-0 Ashes victory. 

Derek Underwood, that great left-arm spinner, felt Illingworth was just as shrewd as his Kent captain Colin Cowdrey. “Illingworth never gave the impression of being at all indecisive. He seemed to know exactly where he was going with every step he took, every decision he made,” wrote Underwood in his  1975 book, Beating the Bat.

Mike Brearley led England to a 5-1  Ashes win Down Under in 1978-79 during Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket. Australia were without their stars and under recalled skipper Bob Simpson, fielded a third string side. Brearley’s tactical brilliance couldn’t eventuate in another series win in Australia. His team lost 0-3 in 1979-80.

It took England eight years to win their next series on Australian soil. They were led by the street smart Mike Gatting, who had taken over from David Gower in 1986.

Gatting’s team overwhelmed Allan  Border’s men 2-1 in a summer which England supporters viewed as a Grand Slam. An Ashes triumph was accompanied by the Perth Challenge silverware and the World Series Cup triangular series.

Celebrated cricket writer Peter Roebuck (now deceased) liked what he saw after England’s opening Test win at Brisbane. “I had arrived in Brisbane fully expecting to condemn Peter Lush as manager, Micky Stewart as coach (things have not gone well at Surrey—they rarely do these days—maybe it’s something to do with the gasometers). 

Instead, they seem to have helped Gatting to knock the team into shape. England worked hard in the field, and played as a team which, for once, did not have a false idea of its powers,” Roebuck wrote in Ashes to Ashes, a tour book on the 1986-87 summer. England’s next and last series triumph in Australia came in 2010-11, with Andrew Strauss in charge. Future captain Alastair Cook topped the run charts with 766 and England had an impressive pace cartel of James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, Chris Tremlett and Tim Bresnan, which led to England winning 3-1.

Stokes’s two Test tours to Australia (2013-14 and 2021-22) were disastrous for England. Unfinished business he sure does have; provided he decides to open shop.

mid-day’s group sports editor Clayton Murzello is a purist with an open stance. He tweets @ClaytonMurzello

Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com

The views expressed in this column are the individual’s and don’t represent those of the paper

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!