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A decade after Andrew Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen captured the imagination of cricket fans across England and made sceptics fall in love with the game, England might just have found another double act to compare with those Ashes heroes.
These have been dark times for English cricket. Apart from the Test series win over India last summer, there has been very little to cheer since Alastair Cook’s team left for Australia in the autumn of 2013, confident the Ashes would still be in their grasp when they returned.
Since then, there have been eight Test defeats, including that 5-0 whitewash in Australia. Four key players –Pietersen, Matt Prior, Graeme Swan and Jonathan Trott – are no longer involved. Three coaches – Andy Flower, Ashley Giles and Peter Moores – have also come and gone, along with managing director Paul Downton.
Pietersen’s continued exile, confirmed by Andrew Strauss shortly after he became England’s director of cricket, disappointed not only his supporters, but those cricket fans who expect excitement when they pay a three-figure sum for their ticket. Pietersen is gone but those adrenaline junkies need not despair, for Joe Root and Ben Stokes can set pulses racing just like KP and Flintoff did in that wonderful summer of 2005.
You want quick scoring? With England 30 for four in their first innings against New Zealand, Stokes and Root produced a thrilling counter-attack, needing just 46 deliveries to post a half-century stand. After lunch, Stokes took 25 from the 39th and 40th overs, striking four fours and a six.
When he was bowled by off-spinner Mark Craig for 92 – made from just 94 balls – the disappointment around the ground was apparent. Not just because Stokes had fallen short of a hundred, but because he had been fabulous to watch.
In making 98, Root was slightly less aggressive but no less impressive. There is an innate confidence about the Yorkshire batsman, a belief that – whatever the situation – he has the talent and temperament to prosper. This self-assurance, sometimes bordering on cockiness, can irritate opponents, who delight in taking his wicket. Root is the man opponents love to hate. Remind you of anyone?
Stokes has as much potential as a bowler as he does as a batsman, and he is as uncomplicated as he can be effective at both disciplines. There are clear echoes of Flintoff in the way he plays.
This pair have a long way to go to match the careers of Pietersen and Flintoff. Yet as we recall how those players helped England regain the urn 10 years ago, perhaps Stokes and Root will be their heirs for this summer’s battle with Australia.
