When the bell tolls, Stokes is alive

English skipper's mental fortitude is a thing of genius

"Art is to console those who are broken by life,” said Ben Stokes’ starved doppelganger from over a century ago. He was a rather good painter, and he went by Vincent van Gogh.

Besides the obvious flaming orange of their hair and beard, the similarity is in the gravity of their eyes. Oh, those eyes.

Just as van Gogh's self-portraits reveal a magic, they also express a pain so visceral it’s impossible to ignore. Stokes bears the same trait. And while van Gogh chose the canvas to show the world what his eyes couldn’t ignore, Stokes chose cricket to hide what he thought the world needn’t know.

Read | Inspired Stokes falls short as Australia win at Lord's

Stokes is a Maori Ngapuhi born in Christchurch, New Zealand. He moved to England at the age of 12 to stay with his rugby-coaching father - Gerard Stokes.

In 1988, his mother’s partner murdered her two children - Stokes’ would-be elder half-siblings - before committing suicide. In 2017, Stokes was detained for assaulting people who were harassing a homosexual couple outside a pub. In 2020, he lost his father to brain cancer.

Mental health manifests in several ways and artists - much like people - find their own way to navigate the darkness, but geniuses have a way of using the darkness.

Van Gogh did. Stokes does. We then become recipients of genius and of their masterpieces.

On Sunday, as the Lord’s swapped its stiff-lipped, upper-crest gait for something a bit more loud, Stokes was on the cusp of another miracle in the Ashes. He believed, and so did England. After all, few mortals could have done what the left-hander did at Headingley against Australia in 2019.

That 135 not out came with England chasing 369 runs. ‘Bazball’ concept wasn't born yet, but England were sure they were onto something. But with 73 runs needed and only Stokes and No.11 Jack Leach left under fading light, England were done? Stokes wasn’t.

An identical pattern revealed itself on Sunday.

After losing the first Test by two wickets at Edgbaston (another classic), England needed this Test and desperation was writ on their faces. And then they were down four wickets for 45 runs. Stokes joined Ben Duckett in the 13th over with England pursuing 371 runs.

Historically, these chases have not ended well for the side chasing, but England, it seems, have a fetish for big pursuits. Perhaps that has something to do with Stokes’ fetish for a challenge, and it usually reveals itself when the stage is at its biggest.

Stokes may have fallen agonisingly short of performing another one of his run-of-the-mill miracles as England lost by 43 runs, but his 214-ball 155 was an entity unto itself.

It almost didn’t matter that England lost for we were rewarded with a master’s work, and those nine sixes were just the right shade of perfect.

“He to me is one of the greatest cricketers of all time. I would go so far as saying he is the greatest,” says Sridharan Sriram, who was with the Australian team as a bowling consultant when Stokes ripped their heart out at Headingley four years ago.

“He is so mentally strong. He has this ability to switch gears, and very few people have that. Of course, he is skilled, but his success has more to do with his mental abilities. Take Headingley in 2019 for instance, he believed he would win the game and because of that his team believed it would win the game. It’s rare to find people like him, those who can inspire a team in any and every situation.

“There is genuine fear in the opposition dressing room when he’s out there with a target in sight. You can feel the pressure, and you can see him getting calmer and calmer. It’s bizarre,” he adds.

With nine fielders on the line, Australia couldn't stop him from picking boundaries. So what makes him unstoppable?

Sriram says: “He has remarkable discipline as a batsman. He knows exactly which balls to go after, which balls to keep out and which balls to leave. Very few simplify it to this degree. And when he takes on bowlers, he doesn’t go halfway. He knows if he goes through with it, no boundary line can contain him. That ability to do this in crunch games, and he has tonnes of them, is stunning. That’s just greatness.”

That explains the 258 against South Africa in 2016, and the 176 and unbeaten 78 against West Indies in 2020, and the 120 against Australia at Perth in 2013, and the 101 against New Zealand at Lord’s in 2015.

And this list doesn’t even include his greatness as a limited-overs cricketer. But unlike the unfortunate van Gogh who died a lonely death before anyone could recognise and acknowledge his genius, Stokes' is here for us to see, and we should be so grateful.