Stoked

CP sees the establishment prevail....if not the way you think

It’s okay everyone, Daddy’s home.

There is a concerted cognitive dissonance about Ben Stokes in England. The leader of a team that has two Test wins in nine matches, have lost six of their last eight, and are in the tail end of a crisis that Stokes was the epicentre of, are saved from themselves, because Stokes himself is back. It doesn’t make sense, and it’s not meant to.

Stokes is an emotional man, but, whether through savviness or his natural personality, is often a smart media operator. It’s more than two weeks since news of the Rex Rooms incident broke. Yesterday was the first time he had addressed it. This allowed him to minimise it as a thing of the past. Here’s fifteen minutes you won’t get back.

He confirmed he had apologised to the squad for the fallout caused, while stopping short of acknowledging any explicit wrongdoing on his own part, and apologised to Joe Root in particular, who had been left to pick up the pieces. He refused to confirm his long-term commitment to the role, instead focusing only on “this week”, and acknowledged that the heat on this England set-up, in what is potentially a win or break-up Test at Trent Bridge, is as high as it’s ever been.

He also, however, thanked the general cricketing public, for the overwhelming support he had received in the past fortnight. When Rob Key and Brendon McCullum were speaking and getting pelters in return, Stokes sat tight and sat quiet. Watching his approval ratings - once again - soar. As he reported:

I feel great. Over the last two weeks there has been a lot going on and the support I felt like I got from the fans of not just English cricket but cricket in general was quite overwhelming. And that’s something I don’t want to be overlooked. The love and support I felt although there was a lot going on, a lot of speculation over the last couple of weeks, I don’t think should take away from the reaction from team-mates, fans and even you lot to a certain extent. Was actually quite nice.

It was a reminder to the powers that be in ECB towers who is boss in the land of public opinion. Out of Rob Key, Brendon McCullum, Richard Gould, Richard Thompson and Ben Stokes, the public cares only for one.

A Richard Thompson