Ben Stokes will be sorely missed as India plot a Test series turn-up

Ben Stokes must have been hit hard by whatever is burdening his mental wellbeing.

The ultimate team man, as well as England’s finest all-rounder since Ian Botham, Stokes would only have stepped away from the series against India as a last resort.

Since England’s talisman has yet to reveal his reasons for doing so, speculation is rife. What is known is that his left index finger, which was operated on three months ago after he badly broke it while fielding in the Indian Premier League, was still giving him, in his words, ‘excruciating pain’.

Although he played as recently as last week, and captained England in the recent one-day series against Pakistan, he has not been able to grip his bat properly since.

For a left-handed batsman whose game is based on power, which comes from that bottom hand, it may be a compromise too far and it looks now as if he came back too early.

Before all that, he had the death of his father Ged to deal with, a bereavement that would have involved a period of isolation, New Zealand essentially sealing its borders to outsiders especially those from Covid hotspots like the UK or India.

That has been a general problem in this pandemic – people have spent too much time with their thoughts.

I don’t believe it is the volume of recent cricket which has made Stokes withdraw, as he hasn’t played that much this year. Rather, he may have looked at what is coming up in the next six months and baulked: five Tests versus India, a T20 and ODI series against Bangladesh, then T20s in Pakistan, a World T20 tournament in UAE and finally a five-Test Ashes tour.

The Bangladesh bit was yesterday postponed indefinitely but that is still a lot of bubble life with daily testing and anti-social protocols.

One possible compounding factor is the standards Stokes sets himself and which others expect of him.

Since his court case for affray in 2018, in which he was found not guilty, he has undertaken punitive levels of physical training above and beyond that required by England’s training staff.

Add to that the huge expectations from team-mates and public, after his brilliant batting in the last Ashes and the 2019 World Cup, and there is a pressure that few cricketers experience.

Perhaps our error is we assumed he could just keep on absorbing it, mistaking physical prowess and a burning competitive spirit for a man in full command of his emotions.

England will miss him desperately, especially against an India side smarting from losing the World Test Championship final to New Zealand. All-rounders of Stokes’ calibre are rare but aside from the skills he brings he gives Joe Root, the captain, several options in balancing the side.

Without him, England will be less inclined to play a spinner, especially at Trent Bridge, the venue for tomorrow’s first Test. I’ve not seen the pitch but traditionally it is a place where seam and swing tend to hold sway.

Which means it could be Root and perhaps Dan Lawrence, if he plays, who supply any spin while James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Mark Wood and one of Ollie Robinson or Sam Curran wheel away at above 80mph.

India’s batsmen looked fallible to the tall seamer Kyle Jamieson in the WTC final. When England lost to New Zealand at Lord’s a few weeks before that match, Robinson, a tall bowler who has since served a ban for historic, racist tweets, out-bowled Jamieson.

This is another aspect where Stokes’ absence could well be felt, with England perhaps tempted to pick Curran on the basis he is a better batsman than Robinson (to help make up for Stokes’ absence) – a defensive selection where the aggressive one would be to play the better bowler.

This Test series is now one of the most important in the calendar for England, with each match worth £20million to the England and Wales Cricket Board.

But the advent of The Hundred has jeopardised England’s chances of winning it, there being no county red-ball cricket scheduled between July 14 and August 30, by which time three of the five Tests will have been played.

England need to start well or they could be in all kinds of bother should they need to make changes, the concept of form, at least in the red-ball game, being non-existent during that period.

Time was when English conditions proved so intractable to India’s players (they have lost 14 of the 18 series here since 1932), that an England team missing their best player would still win.

But India, especially under Virat Kohli, travel better now, their batsmen more confident of coping with the moving ball and their pace bowlers better at utilising it. Their spinners, though, remain a cut above England’s and if pitches turn before the fourth day, Root’s team really will be in trouble.

As it is, England must find a way of competing strongly without Stokes, their ace cricketer and vice-captain.

The 30-year-old knows he’s made playing life harder for his team-mates. Their challenge is to overcome that, something Root has already addressed by holding his captain’s press conference a day earlier than usual.

As England’s best batsman in Stokes’ absence, Root says he wants no distractions the day before the game. It’s a start but much, much more will be needed if India are to be vanquished.

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