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Bristol and Headingley. World Cups two and a half. A surgeon’s scalpel for the hamstrings and knees.
In Ben Stokes’ last eight years, everything and much more has been crammed into.
Not for his batting or his lack of fielding prowess, he sheepishly led England from the field on day two of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, playing with the match ball in his hand.
He had taken five wickets in a Test innings for the first time since September 2017.
Eight months of waiting had gone into creating this historic moment.
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Stokes’ lack of consideration for such a result is incredibly disappointing.
“Something else to overcome…go on then!!!!!!!”! He then shared his social media posts.
There are still so many more bloody tears and tears to go through for my team and this shirt.
Following that, hours of rehab. squats first at home before working out at the gym.
After a brief jog, Durham’s home in Chester-le-Street follows a track.
In March, Stokes was jogging between cones while his county team-mates were doing their pre-season media duties.
A five-wicket haul in the final 76 Tests will reward that. No player in test history had to wait more than a year before accomplishing the feat.
The total for Stokes’ wickets against India this summer is 16 – the most on either side.
It is Stokes’ most scalps in a single series with three innings left, and this is also his busiest game ever.
His very first series, the 2013-14 Ashes, had shorter hair, a more youthful complexion, and a right arm bare of the Phoenix tattoo that now sums up his career.
You can’t beat Stokes’ bowling this summer, according to statistics.
His best speed since 2019 is 84.2%, which is above average. He has never improved, bowling 30% of deliveries on a good line and length.
But Stokes in 2025 has a lot to do with how it feels.
Before the knee and hamstring ops, Stokes was still trying in the 2023 Ashes, but it seemed to push the muscles that were holding him together past their limits when he attempted to bowl.
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Before this series even started, Stokes claimed that the time off from his January operation had made it easier to unintentionalize eccentricities that had entered his bowling.
He got inspired by watching clips of his 2020 Cape Town matchwinning performance against South Africa.
Opening liner Zak Crawley compared Stokes’ performance at Old Trafford to that of his day at Newlands, where he stood at third slip, with “so many similarities.”
“He was bowling right away at the time.” He now has that pace back and that forward movement from the right-hander, which is as important as anyone in the world, really.
He appears to have recovered from his injuries, which is a fantastic effort given the injuries he has sustained. “He’s a proper wicket-taker and he can make things happen,” he said.
The flow is returning, according to Crawley.
Stokes has gotten so far that he no longer appears to be a man who hurts with every step.
His action finds the kick and bounce from the flattest pitches thanks to his front-knee brace, which is rock solid.
Although the marathon spells were supposed to be prohibited, bursts of 9.2 overs and 10 overs in last week’s win at Lord’s, where no one but Joe Root’s Under-13s partner could take the ball from his hand, were followed by another 10 on the spin either side of lunch.
A flurry of wickets and a number of crucial ones came as a result.
The final-day thriller was based on Lord’s off stump, and Akash Deep and Ravindra Jadeja threatened the improbable when they left. Jasprit Bumrah stumbled out the following day.
Karun Nair and Shardul Thakur were dismissed by Stokes at Headingley, allowing Josh Tongue to clean up the tail. And in Manchester, he defeated his opposite team, Washington Sundar, Sai Sudharsan, the top-scoring innings player for India, and Shubman Gill, who had collaborated with Rishabh Pant to acclimatize the country.
Stokes has a legitimate claim to be the team’s player of the series despite not allowing a fifty in any of his six innings.
After that, England’s captain will have a planned three-and-a-half month off before the Ashes in Australia, where his Test debut was first, in a planned manner.
Stokes is now wiser.
Last week, Brydon Carse and his bowler Brydon Carse were able to escape Ravindra Jadeja’s confrontation, which Ian Bell did 12 years ago when the Australia wicketkeeper enjoyed a no-ball denying the all-rounder his first wicket.
England fans must now hold onto that levelheadedness. They must hope Stokes will know his body the best and never push it past its limits, as Joe Root suggested last week.
Because Stokes is a fourth seamer, which is a good thing, but it also does him a disservice.
The effort has paid off. Stokes is not a fourth-seamer.
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