Ben Stokes missed the 2017-18 Ashes, and when he was added to the England squad for the 2021-21 Ashes at the last moment, there was a sense of hope among the England fans. 12 days of cricket and England have lost the Ashes. Stokes is nowhere near his best and the fact that Mitchell Starc has more runs and wickets than Stokes defines the state of the visiting team. At the start of the year, Stokes was the number 1 all-rounder in Test cricket, and he is now at the sixth position, behind Starc. In this piece, we analyze his performances in 2021 and how his skills are missed by England.
Batting
Due to various reasons, Stokes only played seven of the 15 Tests for England in 2021. The left-hander had a poor run with the bat and only averaged 21 across 14 innings. England’s batting average in matches where Stokes was playing was 23, compared to 27 when he was not there.
Stokes did bat in the toughest of conditions – four matches in India and three in Australia – but with his experience, the expectations were high. In the previous tours to those two countries, Stokes was far better than the average batter in the team.
Bowling
Stokes had a brilliant 2020, averaging only 18.74 with the ball. This year the issue with Stokes has been his economy rate. He is conceding runs at 4.35 RPO, which is almost a run higher than his career economy of 3.36.
For any bowler who has bowled more than 60 overs this year, Stokes has the highest economy. Being the fourth-highest wicket-taker for England since 2016, he is on the expensive side. Stokes is known for running in all day and giving it all, but right now, that economy rate is bothering, especially when the English batters aren’t putting put up the runs.
In 11 innings in 2021, Stokes has just picked up nine wickets. Seven of those came in two innings, including crucial wickets of Virat Kohli and David Warner. The problem right now is some of his spells where he has been expensive. In the first Ashes Test, he gave away 65 runs in 12 overs coming in as the fourth bowler. It might not be wrong to say that maybe Stokes is overtrying and it is going against him.
All-rounder contribution
Judging an all-rounder is always difficult. Do you compare his batting stats to the normal batters’ and the same with the bowling stats? Is the team satisfied with him performing in one of the skills and being ordinary in the other? The answers to the questions depend a lot on the team balance.
When we look at the annual stats, in eight years from 2013-2020, Stokes had a better batting average than the combined average of the top seven of England in four of those years. The same is the scenario with his bowling average – four years where he had a better average than other English bowlers that year.
The all-rounder has been able to have an impact with the bat and ball, not always together but he has contributed somehow. In eight years, there are two years – 2016 and 2020 – when both the batting and bowling average was far better than the team’s average, and two years – 2013 and 2015 – when it was less than the team. Since it was at the start of his career, it is understandable.
Conclusion
In 2021, Stokes has failed with the bat and the ball. His position is crucial for the balance of the team. There are still crucial points at stake in the last two Ashes Tests. Ideally, English fans will be hoping for Stokes to have an impact with the bat and the ball, but what the team needs is some valuable runs from his bat. Stokes is one inning away from gaining confidence, and that could do wonders for one of the best all-rounders in the world and his team.