Stokes must deliver runs, not words, to restore some pride

That contrasts starkly with Stokes’s record before 2021, and his long break for injury and mental health management. In 47 matches from 2016 to 2020, his batting average was 42 and bowling 27.6.

- Will Macpherson

LATE on what should have been day four of the Melbourne Test, the ICC revealed that Mitchell Starc, the wonderful Australia fast bowler, had “nudged ahead” of Ben Stokes in their rankings for Test all-rounders.

It drew a smile, partly because it was a reminder of the rough edges of the rankings — particularly the all-rounder category — but partly because it seemed to tell a story of this Ashes series so far.

Starc leads the wicket-taking charts with 14 and has 117 runs — more than any Englishman but Joe Root and Dawid Malan. Carded at No9, he has piled pain on tired English bowlers. Not bad for a player many in Australia think should not make the team.

Stokes (below, in the nets today) has been Test cricket’s leading seam-bowling all-rounder in recent years and, when he announced he would end his hiatus to tour Australia, he was billed as a saviour. It has not quite gone to plan. With the bat, he is averaging 17, at a strike rate of 31. With the ball, it is 62, at an economy of five.

In the most recent two of those five years, his batting average was 50: as they say in these parts, elite numbers.