Since the series after the 2013/14 Ashes, Ben Stokes has scored 83 runs off 142 balls in ODI cricket, at an average of 13.8.
In the same timescale, he has bowled just 32 overs in eight matches, with an economy rate of 7.19, and has taken just four wickets.
For the man that the public were consistently told was ‘the only positive’ from the disastrous tour of Australia last winter, these are pretty terrible figures. At Hambantota on Wednesday, Stokes bowled two overs in the whole Sri Lankan innings, such was his captain’s lack of trust towards him, and conceded a mammoth 28 runs, looking completely lost as to how to bowl at times. That Alastair Cook trusted the part-time off-spin of Joe Root to a greater extent to bowl the third-to-last over showed how far the Ashes centurion has fallen, and it seems as though he will struggle to find a spot in the side for the upcoming World Cup.
In fact, it is absolutely baffling to see that Ben Stokes in still in the squad as a bowling all-rounder, which is how he has been used by England in ODI cricket ever since he burst onto the scene. The reason for his continued selection by the Three Lions seems to be that he has had an excellent run of form in domestic List A cricket for Durham, and yet the 23-year-old’s success in the Royal London One-Day Cup this season was almost exclusively with the bat.
410 runs in seven innings, including two centuries, was a good return for Stokes, who usually batted a number five in his spell in the team, but will the ball, his statistics were mediocre at best. Among those who took as many wickets as the all-rounder in the competition were Essex part-time off-spinner Tom Westley, Gloucestershire’s Jack Taylor, who has a first-class bowling average over 40, and the expensive Lewis Hatchett; hardly a repertoire of international calibre bowlers.
Twitter was full of unflattering remarks about the red-head, including a harsh comparison between Stokes and Surrey’s Jade Dernbach, whose international career became farcical towards its end.
Is Ben Stokes really Jade Dernbach in disguise? Why oh why does he keep getting selected; just look at his figures #bbccricket
— Robert Ost (@BobOst777) December 3, 2014
The reason for his inclusion – he came in to replace the effective Kent spinner James Tredwell, who has an excellent ODI record – seemed to be in an effort to experiment before the World Cup, as well as to bolster the side’s batting, but England need to learn that having a quality batsman and raw bowler at number 8 simply does not win games of cricket at international level. But for their top order’s rare success in the third ODI, England’s bowling would have cost them the game. A great ODI innings is usually founded on one of the top four scoring a big hundred, followed by contributions from the lower order. The Royal London One-Day Cup showed that Stokes is more than a contributor, and, if England have any ambitions to win the World Cup, they have to realise that there is simply not a space for Stokes in the team.
Chris Woakes’ batting is good enough for him to fill that position in the side, and, with the returning Stuart Broad and James Anderson looking certainties for the first game of the tournament, England’s lower order would not be awful by any means without the Durham man. If there is any logic left with the selectors, they will either drop Stokes for the rest of the series and for the World Cup, or, at the very least, give him the number six position in the batting order for a game. However, the issue with this lies in the fact that they are keen to give an opportunity to Nottinghamshire’s James Taylor, who would also look like a possibility to fill that role. It seems as though Eoin Morgan, who averages 17.16 in ODIs since the aforementioned Australia series, is playing for his life in the side, and may well be rotated out at some stage in the remainder of the Sri Lanka series.
England’s ODI side has become at times farcical recently, and dropping Stokes seems to be the first, easy step towards bringing back some semblance of competitiveness in foreign conditions that could be made. Getting rid of the captain, Eoin Morgan and Chris Jordan are important for some fans, but Stokes’ exclusion is the first move to be made before the 14th February next year, when England will walk out for their World Cup opener against Australia. That day seems very worrying as an England fan, as a heavy defeat is the only outcome that seems possible until changes are made. The final statistic that should be mentioned comes courtesy of ESPNCricinfo’s Peter Miller and sums up Stokes’ recently international career fairly aptly:
Since he came back from Australia Ben Stokes is averaging 7.9 with the bat and 44.7 with the ball in all international cricket — Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) December 3, 2014
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @mroller98. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
Main Photo:
