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Ben Stokes makes things happen. We all know that. But when was the last time he made a really big, memorable cricket thing happen?
It’s been a while. We can’t actually think of any since he made a night in the cells happen in 2017.
We’ve written about how Stokes reacted to a mad deflected run-out for Cricket 365. You can read the piece here. It’s about whether his on-field demeanour is the demeanour of a man who’s lost his edge.
Spoiler alert: we don’t think it is.
I know you don’t do requests. But.
“The wait for the official tournament song is over! The ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2019 is proud to unveil “Stand By” – a collaboration between new artist LORYN and one of the UK’s most successful and influential acts, Rudimental.”
You know it makes sense.
It does, but… now you’ve requested it…
On two separate occasions during this ODI series I’ve heard Simon Mann say “Stokes is trying too hard.” Graham Swann just commented that he has “been down for a long time.” Perhaps, like Renshaw in the previous post, Stokes is thinking about how near he is to the WC.
“His first reaction was, perfectly understandably, to roll his eyes so hard as to actually knock his head backwards.”
Reminds me of this – perhaps he needs the training:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5WPVLljm1A
After last night, Betteridge applies here.