England need to devise a plan to cope without Stokes

As far as English cricket is concerned, it’s become irrelevant whether Ben Stokes behaved like a street thug or a gallant knight in Bristol a few weeks ago.
As the squad flies to Australia to try to retain the Ashes, he isn’t part of the traveling party. Until the police investigation is complete, England won’t even know if Stokes can fly out and join his teammates.
Andrew Strauss, the director of cricket who captained England to an Ashes win in Australia in 2010-11, and Joe Root, the current leader, are entitled to be more than a little bit miffed at the turn of events. Stokes was the player they could least afford to lose before embarking on what is arguably one of the toughest assignments in sport — England lost 5-0 in both 2006-07 and 2013-14.
That second debacle, also remembered for Kevin Pietersen’s last appearances in an England shirt, had precious few silver linings. Stokes was undoubtedly one, scoring a belligerent hundred and taking 15 wickets in his debut series. He now has 2,429 runs at 35.72, and 95 wickets at 33.93. But those numbers, good as they are, are not the reason cricket-watchers regard him as Box Office Ben.
When Stokes turns it on, he invariably influences the outcome of matches and series. That was best illustrated in South Africa in early 2016, when his 411 runs and 12 wickets were instrumental in a famous English victory. Even in the 4-0 drubbing that England suffered in India last winter, Stokes scored 345 runs, including a hundred, while his tally of eight wickets didn’t tell you just how well he bowled.
As much as his talent, Stokes also has the swagger once associated with the likes of Keith Miller and Viv Richards. There have been individuals who have quailed in the face of relentless abuse from Australian crowds. Stokes wasn’t one of them. Even as England’s campaign unravelled four years ago, Stokes didn’t slouch or disappear.
For now, England need to make their plans without him. For two years, he and Jonny Bairstow have provided middle-order ballast to tide over top-order batting woes, while his ability to bowl a heavy ball and reverse swing with tremendous accuracy has given captains the luxury of playing a fifth specialist bowler.
Australia have an impressive fast-bowling arsenal, but plenty of batting travails of their own. If Stokes isn’t around, however, the support for the waning old firm of Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad looks very thin. But Australia will do well not to treat the new faces lightly, especially when they look back at their own cricket history and one of their most famous wins.
In the southern-hemisphere winter of 1995, Australia’s cricketers journeyed to the Caribbean for what was effectively a contest to decide the best Test side in the world. West Indies had not lost at home in 22 years, having won 14 of their last 15 series. They hadn’t lost anywhere since an ill-tempered contest in New Zealand in 1980.
West Indies had lost some of their aura, and greatest players to retirement, but the consensus was that Australia would need to be at their very best to beat the No.1-ranked side. Before the final match of the ODI series that preceded the four Tests, though, Craig McDermott fell off a sea wall in Georgetown, Guyana, and tore ligaments in his ankle.
In the 3-1 Ashes victory a few months earlier, McDermott — who led the attack for a decade, and inspired an improbable World Cup win in 1987 — had taken 32 wickets at 21. Damien Fleming, whose 10 wickets at 27.4 had been a valuable support act for McDermott and Shane Warne, was also ruled out through injury.
But adversity got the best out of Mark Taylor’s Australian team. Lacking McDermott’s pace, they changed tack and opted for attrition against the top order and intimidation against the tail-enders.
The unheralded Glenn McGrath took 17 wickets, Paul Reiffel matched Warne’s tally of 15, and Brendon Julian took nine. With Steve Waugh grafting 429 runs, including an epic 200 at Sabina Park, Australia won 2-1.
Pace-bowling all-rounders of the quality of Stokes come along every few decades. The real characters are as rare. At the end of a day’s play in Chennai last December, with the series already lost and another defeat looking likely, Stokes was asked what he and his teammates would take away from such a chastening experience. Instead of lapsing into clichés or platitudes, he simply said: “Sunburn.”
Now, he needs that level of honesty to deal with his behavioural issues. Bristol wasn’t the first time he had walked on the edge. He must make sure it’s the last. English cricket simply cannot afford to have him disappear into the abyss.

Source:Arabnews