The last time Ben Stokes played a Test at Lord’s, less than a year ago against India, he had bagged a pair, England had lost and he was about to dropped. On the fourth day against New Zealand he hurtled to the fastest Test century at the ground, off 85 balls, alongside a magnificent unbeaten 153 from captain Alastair Cook, to give England a lead of 295 and leave a myriad of prospects for the final day.
Stokes’ hundred eclipsed the 87-ball effort by Mohammad Azharuddin in 1990 and also became the second fastest for England in Test history, behind Gilbert Jessop’s 76 balls against Australia in 1902 and a ball quicker than Ian Botham against Australia, at Old Trafford, in the storied summer of 1981. There will, inevitably, be the linking of the two allrounder’s names after such a display of match-turning power, not to mention his first innings 92 which lifted England from depths of 30 for 4.
The game was in the balance when Stokes arrived following a 158-run stand between Cook, who continued his form by making a century in consecutive Tests, and the prolific Joe Root. But despite their alliance the lead was a precarious 98 with six wickets remaining and the second new ball 10 overs away. At the time, Cook was on 98 – when Stokes departed with 101 to his name, top edging a sweep to slip, Cook had provided 24 of the 132-run stand for the fifth wicket.
Stokes had been quickly into his work before tea, crunching five boundaries before rain briefly took the players off. There was no disrupting Stokes’ flow and the new ball lit the blue touch paper. He launched into Tim Southee who decided to test out the middle of the pitch and ended up with a spell of 6-1-53-0, during which the complexion of match change significantly.
It began, though, with three crisp drives in four balls which, perhaps, was the persuasion for Southee to change tactic. And it should have worked when, having pulled one six over deep square leg to reach 65, he went for a repeat next delivery and the ball burst through Doug Bracewell’s hands on the boundary. Next ball, a top edge flew over the keeper. In all, Stokes’ second fifty took 28 balls in a display of sustained clean hitting not seen by an England player since Kevin Pietersen was in his prime.
In the space of a 26-over stand England’s main aim had shifted from primarily match-saving to potentially match-winning. There is only one successful chase higher than the current target on this ground – West Indies’ 344 for 1 in 1984 – but you would imagine that Brendon McCullum would tell his men to have a go. As England showed, despite the occasional sign of uneven bounce there were few gremlins in the pitch although it was difficult to judge what impact spin could have as Mark Craig struggled for any consistency.
No one will know the pitch better than Cook. There for the entire day he brought up his 27th Test century – following his ton in Barbados – and fourth at Lord’s from 206 balls (before Stokes had got off the mark) with a punch down the ground as McCullum surrounded him with catchers on the off side. As he completed a third run there was a show of raw emotion as he celebrated towards the dressing room and received a prolonged ovation from the crowd, which was repeated later in the evening session when he passed 150. It was not the reception of an unpopular man.
The morning had been especially testing for England who did well to only suffer the one loss. Southee had immediately found movement when he resumed from the Nursery End, getting his third delivery to tail away late at Bell to take the edge. The first hour brought 31 runs; the second 70 as Cook and Root eased into their work.
Cook went to his fifty from 122 balls and when Craig was introduced half an hour before lunch he cut and pulled as the bowler dropped short. His judgement on what to play and what to leave was almost impeccable but he also latched onto scoring opportunities; the pull was in good working and there was even a cover drive as the lead swelled over 250. By the end of the day he was 31 runs away from overtaking his mentor, Graham Gooch, as England’s highest Test run-scorer.
Root, again, also played a vital hand in reviving England. After the early loss of Bell, New Zealand sensed a chance to make major morning gains while the ball was moving. Root was far from fluent at the start of the innings and on 7 had a heart-mouth moment when he flicked Boult off his pads and Corey Anderson dived forward at square leg. No one was entirely sure if it had carried and third umpire ruled there was no conclusive evidence.
Craig’s introduction, as it would for most of the day, relieved some of the pressure as Root went to an 83-ball fifty and the fluency of the first innings had returned. However, in the afternoon he was sucked in by a short-ball ploy and obligingly hooked Matt Henry to long leg. Another missed hundred for Root, but it set the stage for Stokes. And how he responded.
England 1st innings 389
New Zealand 1st innings 523
England 2nd innings
A Lyth c Southee b Boult 12
AN Cook* not out 153
GS Balance b Southee 0
IR Bell c Latham b Southee 29
JE Root c Boult b Henry 84
BA Stokes c Taylor b Craig 101
JC Buttler† c Latham b Henry 14
MM Ali not out 19
Extras (b 2, lb 10, w 5) 17
Total (6 wickets; 118 overs) 429
To bat MA Wood, SCJ Broad, JM Anderson
Fall of wickets 1-14 (Lyth, 2.2 ov), 2-25 (Ballance, 7.4 ov), 3-74 (Bell, 26.3 ov), 4-232 (Root, 69.3 ov), 5-364 (Stokes, 95.6 ov), 6-389 (Buttler, 100.5 ov)
Bowling
TA Boult 28-5-71-1, TG Southee 29-4-129-2, MJ Henry 29-3-106-2, MD Craig 28-3-96-1, CJ Anderson 3-0-13-0, KS Williamson 1-0-2-0
MATCH DETAILS
Toss – New Zealand, who chose to field
Test debuts – A Lyth and MA Wood (England); MJ Henry (New Zealand)
Player of the match – tba
Umpires – M Erasmus (South Africa) and S Ravi (India)
TV umpire – RJ Tucker (Australia)
Match referee – DC Boon (Australia)
Reserve umpire – NJ Llong
