Joe Root tried to halt Ben Stokes’ marathon bowling spells in the Lord’s win over India, wary of fatigue physically breaking England’s talismanic all-rounder.
Stokes sent down 56 and 60-ball spells on the final day of the energy-sapping 22-run victory, which saw England go 2-1 up in the series but lose two of the 12 World Test Championship points they gained due to a slow over rate.
After claiming five for 111, his best Test match figures since 2022, in a man-of-the-match performance that also included 77 runs and the run out of Rishabh Pant, the 34-year-old, who has been sidelined with a torn hamstring twice inside the past 12 months, admitted he was ‘pretty cooked’.
Of recommending that Stokes cut short his herculean bowling efforts, Root said: ‘I mentioned it. He doesn’t always listen to me. He didn’t listen to me when I was captain, but he knows what he’s doing. And he’s got a good handle on where he’s at physically. It was an incredible effort.
‘It’s just how he’s built I guess. He’s desperate to be the man and make things happen.
‘I was panicking that he wasn’t going to make it through the game after a couple of bad injuries, but he clearly trusts his body now. It’s a great sign for us moving forward.’
There is now a week of recovery ahead of the penultimate match of four in the Rothesay Series in Manchester, but the latest win came at a cost with England’s tardiness in the field dropping them from a win percentage of 66.67 to 61.11, relinquishing outright second place to Sri Lanka in the WTC table in the process. Each of their players have been fined £1500 each, one-tenth of their match fees too.
India, meanwhile, escaped scot-free despite bowling only 83 overs on the opening day and being part of a match that lost 32 overs from its scheduled first 270 due to a succession of stoppages caused by multiple checks on balls going soft and players being treated on-field for injuries, such as Pant being struck on the hands or Shubman Gill receiving a massage.
However, as per ICC regulations – updated in 2023 – innings of fewer than 80 overs in length are not penalised for slow play, and as India bowled England out in 62.1 overs before being dismissed in 74.5 themselves, only the first half of the match was scrutinised.
Taking all extenuating circumstances into consideration, match referee Richie Richardson imposed the sanction after the charge was levelled by umpires Paul Reiffel and Sharfuddoulah, supported by fourth official Graham Lloyd.
Stokes submitted a guilty plea, therefore avoiding a formal hearing, but the punishment follows 22 points of deductions in the previous WTC cycle that finished earlier this year. Without such penalties, England would have finished third in the standings instead of fifth.
It is undoubtedly an area that they need to improve, but one thing that cannot be bettered is Joe Root’s place in the Test batting rankings.
Just as he did when he lost the No 1 spot last December, Root has returned to the summit within a week, having struck his 37th Test hundred in England’s 387 and followed up with a top score of 40 in the second innings.
Yorkshire team-mate Harry Brook, who displaced him last week, has slipped to third behind New Zealand’s Kane Williamson.
Meanwhile, Ashes rivals Australia now have five bowlers in the top 10 after Scott Boland, chosen ahead of Nathan Lyon for the pink-ball Test in Jamaica, bagged a hat-trick in the routing of West Indies for just 27 on the third day
