The England cricket team had been struggling to find a quality seam bowling all rounder after the retirement of Andrew Flintoff, but, now, it seems that they have found one. That guy is Ben Stokes. The 22-year old player from Durham has played only a couple of test matches so far, but, he has shown that he is a guy who is capable of doing the job for England both with the bat and the ball.
On the Perth pitch where it was pretty tough to bat on the 4th and the 5th day, he batted beautifully. He played his shots right from the word go and put real pressure on the Aussie bowlers. He looked good both on the front foot and the back foot.
The character of a player is tested in tough situations. When things are going well, anyone can come and play fluently, but, those who do that under pressure as well become big players and it seems Stokes has got that quality. He certainly looks to be an impact player.
The youngster is pretty useful with the ball too. He hasn’t got too many wickets in his first two test matches so far, but, he looks capable of bowling with good pace consistently and he can swing the ball too. The delivery that he bowled to Michael Clarke in Australia’s second innings at Perth was an absolute beauty. It was an in swinger which landed around the off stump and got through the defence of Clarke who is one of the best batsmen in the world at the moment.
Andrew Flintoff who was a great all rounder himself had said before the start of the ongoing Ashes series that Stokes has got enormous potential and he has been proved right.