He is back in the groove as skipper, but callow nature of this team has forced a fresh approach as Stokes’s stand-in
There was a moment, late on the first day at Lord’s, of the sort that makes captaincy instantly worthwhile: Ben Stokes chose to bring Emilio Gay in at short leg, Kane Williamson immediately edged the ball into his pad and thence into the air, and without even looking to see what happened next Ollie Robinson sprinted into his captain’s embrace. It is a high-pressure role, perhaps at times unbearably so, but it is not without its rewards.
The first day of the second Test had little in common, not least because the England teamsheet had in the intervening period been put through a shredder. The sun shone, the pitch behaved, and as an occasion it felt – perhaps appropriately given the kind of mess England have made a habit of getting themselves into of late – a great deal more sober.
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