Thoughts on a great Test victory in India

In an era of Test match decline Ben Stokes has done so much to restore its status.

The final day, resulting in an improbable England victory, was as exciting as it gets. So much so that I dared not leave the TV transmission for fear of missing something.

Ollie Pope’s 196 put England back into the frame and will surely rank as one of the great Test innings in India but it was the debutant Tom Hartley who dominated the final day.

He had already contributed an invaluable 34 and kept his end up as Pope took the Indians on.

Yesterday he weighed in with 7 wickets – all the more remarkable as he had gone for 63 in his first seven overs in the Indian first innings.

Such performances can break a cricketer and in a different era he might have joined that long list of tourists who have a disappointing tour and were thereafter consigned to oblivion. However, Ben Stokes is not that type of captain. He persevered with him and his confidence was restored.

Mention must also be made of two stumpings by Ben Foakes.

But for the unexplained withdrawal of Harry Brook he might never have played.

Ben Stokes has emerged as one of the two great captions of the era, the other being Mike Brearley.

There is no similarity between the two.

Brearley was cerebral and detached, Stokes not just one of the lads as a player but perhaps the lad, courting trouble and controversy.

He did not seem to have any of the credentials to replace Joe Root as skipper but it was soon apparent that he was his own man, promoting his own brand of cricket.

His sides consistently produced attacking cricket and palpitating Tests.

Players like Zac Crawley, with indifferent statistics and form, became integral.

Interestingly Stokes does not adopt the customary comfortable skipper’s option of fielding in the slips, but in the outfield where he can maximise his fielding acumen whilst also keeping a certain detachment from the team.

The leading 55 South African cricketers refused to tour, West Indies sent a third team to Australia but still won in Brisbane – and young cricketers want to play white ball.

The ECB introduced the aberration of The Hundred.

We should all be grateful to Ben Stokes for reminding us just how exciting Test cricket can be,