• Stokes ends with 6-99 after feisty Ashes performance
• 'We were guilty of dropping it a bit too short today'
England lost their grip once again on Australia's slippery middle order in a slack post-lunch session at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but there was some consolation in a feisty bowling performance as the clouds gathered later in the day, and no great surprise that it should be Ben Stokes who provided a sense of incision against the tail.
Stokes was loose at times, pitching too short to Brad Haddin after lunch, but he ran in with great heart all day, covering the hole left by the cramp-ridden Boyd Rankin, and was rewarded with his first five-wicket haul in Tests. Stokes is already that rare thing: an English cricketer openly admired by the Australian sporting public, not least for his obvious relishing of the fray. With a hundred in Perth and a bowling performance that leaves him with more wickets on tour than James Anderson, the Durham man is perhaps England's sole genuinely bright spot of a wretched tour.
"If that's what people say then thanks," Stokes said after a day that saw England close on 8-1 after Australia were all out for a rollicking 326 in 76 overs. "I've said many times it's just feet on the floor for now. The success I've had could easily turn around and people would be writing me off. I'm just going to look forward to the next game and play it."
For Stokes, success here came at the start and at the end of Australia's innings as 97 for five became 225 for six thanks to a fine stand between Brad Haddin and Steve Smith who made 115 and was last man out, Stokes' final victim of the day. "We started really well and then they counterattacked with Haddin and Smith and they probably ended up getting 50 or 60 too many," Stokes said. "We were guilty of dropping it a bit too short today. Our goal as a bowling unit was to try and hit the top of off stump which is the best place to bowl on that wicket."
For Stokes there was also the more understated pleasure of seeing his Durham teammate Scott Borthwick make his Test debut. "It's really good to be playing with a close friend and a county teammate. It's pretty special and it's great to have shared that moment with him. I'm pretty sure it's a special day for him too. The first thing he said to me when we got out there was 'this is canny mint, like' in his Mackem accent and hopefully there'll be a few more games for him to play."
England's bowlers again suffered at the hands of Haddin, who scored his fifth successive first-innings half-century and, frankly, batted like a dream as England repeatedly tested his ability to put away the short ball with varying degrees of violence. "He just comes out and plays his natural game whatever the situation is. Quite a lot's gone his way but fair play to him he's taken every chance he's had to get runs," said Stokes. "He came in today and started hitting me back over my head. You stand there scratching your head thinking this isn't meant to happen."
Not that Stokes seems particularly fazed by anything even on this most dismal of losing tours. He does, though, acknowledge the steep step up from county cricket. "It's the standard that you have to play to really, any sort of width you give is just going to be punished, you just don't receive bad balls from the bowlers. It is different especially with a guy bowling 150 clicks at your head, you don't get that much in county cricket. And 40,000 people too, the atmosphere you play under." Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 days ago.
• 'We were guilty of dropping it a bit too short today'
England lost their grip once again on Australia's slippery middle order in a slack post-lunch session at the Sydney Cricket Ground, but there was some consolation in a feisty bowling performance as the clouds gathered later in the day, and no great surprise that it should be Ben Stokes who provided a sense of incision against the tail.
Stokes was loose at times, pitching too short to Brad Haddin after lunch, but he ran in with great heart all day, covering the hole left by the cramp-ridden Boyd Rankin, and was rewarded with his first five-wicket haul in Tests. Stokes is already that rare thing: an English cricketer openly admired by the Australian sporting public, not least for his obvious relishing of the fray. With a hundred in Perth and a bowling performance that leaves him with more wickets on tour than James Anderson, the Durham man is perhaps England's sole genuinely bright spot of a wretched tour.
"If that's what people say then thanks," Stokes said after a day that saw England close on 8-1 after Australia were all out for a rollicking 326 in 76 overs. "I've said many times it's just feet on the floor for now. The success I've had could easily turn around and people would be writing me off. I'm just going to look forward to the next game and play it."
For Stokes, success here came at the start and at the end of Australia's innings as 97 for five became 225 for six thanks to a fine stand between Brad Haddin and Steve Smith who made 115 and was last man out, Stokes' final victim of the day. "We started really well and then they counterattacked with Haddin and Smith and they probably ended up getting 50 or 60 too many," Stokes said. "We were guilty of dropping it a bit too short today. Our goal as a bowling unit was to try and hit the top of off stump which is the best place to bowl on that wicket."
For Stokes there was also the more understated pleasure of seeing his Durham teammate Scott Borthwick make his Test debut. "It's really good to be playing with a close friend and a county teammate. It's pretty special and it's great to have shared that moment with him. I'm pretty sure it's a special day for him too. The first thing he said to me when we got out there was 'this is canny mint, like' in his Mackem accent and hopefully there'll be a few more games for him to play."
England's bowlers again suffered at the hands of Haddin, who scored his fifth successive first-innings half-century and, frankly, batted like a dream as England repeatedly tested his ability to put away the short ball with varying degrees of violence. "He just comes out and plays his natural game whatever the situation is. Quite a lot's gone his way but fair play to him he's taken every chance he's had to get runs," said Stokes. "He came in today and started hitting me back over my head. You stand there scratching your head thinking this isn't meant to happen."
Not that Stokes seems particularly fazed by anything even on this most dismal of losing tours. He does, though, acknowledge the steep step up from county cricket. "It's the standard that you have to play to really, any sort of width you give is just going to be punished, you just don't receive bad balls from the bowlers. It is different especially with a guy bowling 150 clicks at your head, you don't get that much in county cricket. And 40,000 people too, the atmosphere you play under." Reported by guardian.co.uk 6 days ago.