After he was sent to the naughty step for swearing at Headingley, Ben Stokes returned to the top of the class with a bowling performance that had West Indies cursing.
Stokes picked up a demerit point for bellowing his frustration within range of the stump microphone during West Indies’ victory in the Second Test yet on the first day at Lord’s, it was the ball, rather than the England all-rounder, that was doing the talking.
Jimmy Anderson is usually acknowledged as the king of swing but it was Stokes who really moved the ball through the air here. Bowling from the Pavilion End, Stokes bamboozled the tourists’ batting line-up as, along with Toby Roland-Jones, he brought about their collapse from 78 for two midway through the session to 119 for seven at tea.
While the previous two matches between England and West Indies have taught us to assume nothing, this might be a match-winning position for England, which would also help them clinch the Investec Series.
There was also a valuable lesson for Joe Root in Stokes’ spell, which the England captain would surely have absorbed. More than once this summer, Root has used Stokes as his tough guy, the man to bowl a spell of short-pitched deliveries to try to buy a wicket through intimidation.
As James Taylor said in a recent Standard Sport column, Stokes is too good for that. Before this match, he had taken three five-wicket hauls in his 38 Tests, with his 89 wickets coming at 35.5 apiece. Many of his best spells have come when he pitches the ball up and swings it both ways.
Stokes’ first wicket was a sharp return catch to remove Kieran Powell, the opener, for 39. Number two arrived when Stokes produced one that pitched middle and off and straightened, taking the top of off stump. It was too good for Roston Chase, and would have outwitted plenty of batsmen better than him, too.
Shane Dowrich never gave the impression he would hang around for long and it was no surprise when he edged Stokes to Alastair Cook at first slip. Stokes should have had his fourth in the final over before the interval but Jason Holder was dropped by Root at second slip.
When Stokes walked off at tea, he had bowled an unbroken spell of 13 overs, taking three for 22. The capacity Lord’s crowd were willing Anderson to take the one wicket he needed to reach 500 in Tests, but there were no doubts about who was the man of the afternoon
