Stokes admits revelling in 'high-pressure situations'
As one ubiquitous wag on social media put it, at the height of Sri Lanka's collapse against Englan "for a man who's only had two touches, having one hell of a game."
Not half. His solitary contribution with the bat had been to spank his
first and only delivery, the last of England's innings, over cow corner
for six to complete a satisfactory late charge to 171 for 4; his first
and most sensational involvement in the field had come at the end of the
third over, with Sri Lanka already reeling at 15 for 3.
Angelo Mathews, whose heroics would eventually take England to the brink
but who for now was poking his first ball cautiously out to the leg
side, half motioned for a single but sent his partner back. Stokes,
swooping from mid-on and launching himself at the stumps to under-arm
from three yards, pinged off the bails to dispatch Lahiru Thirimanne and
put England into a position of such dominance that the host
broadcaster's much-mocked and misunderstood "Win Predictor" would soon
be declaring their chances of victory were "100%".
The situation did not feel quite so clear-cut, however, by the time
Stokes was thrown the ball to complete his final six touches of the
match. Though hobbled badly by a hamstring strain, Mathews' magnificence
had hauled his team's chase back from the dead, and with 15 runs still
required but five sixes to his name already, England knew they were a
couple of clean hits from oblivion.
Instead, Stokes responded with the over of his limited-over life. Three
pinpoint yorkers, four dot-balls, and one mighty roar of triumph later,
he had helped to carry England into the last four with a performance
that epitomised the value of a genuine allrounder.
"I was pleased with my whole overall game," Stokes told reporters at the
team hotel in Delhi, as they continued their preparations for
Wednesday's semi-final against New Zealand.
"I said in an interview afterwards that I'd much rather be doing that
last over thing than sitting there watching and hoping whoever bowled it
gets us through. I'd rather be the man doing it. It's a lot easier on
the nerves.
"It sounds silly to say when you're the person doing it, but I'm not
very good at watching tight situations like that. I just love being
involved in the game and the high-pressure situations and it probably
brings the best out of me in terms of my cricket. So hopefully we don't
get it down to that tight again, especially after the start we got. But I
enjoy getting put into the big moments in games."
There's been a fair amount of big-game pressure flying around for Stokes
in this tournament so far. On the face of it he has not been as
influential as, say, Joe Root or Jos Buttler. His only wicket of the
campaign came against Afghanistan, while he has a top-score of 15 in
four innings.
But that underplays the importance of his floating role to England's team dynamic. In their pursuit of 230
for instance, Stokes was pitched in at No. 3 in the midst of the
Powerplay, with orders to keep the momentum flying after Alex Hales and
Jason Roy's riotous start against the new ball. He did not hang around
for long, but he smashed a four and a 94 metre six in the course of his
nine-ball stay, leaving the stage set for Root and Buttler to take a
more measured approach to the middle overs.
