It was what Ben Stokes stood for, in tandem with the Boy’s Own adventures he conjured with bat and ball, that made him one of the greats of England cricket.
He stood for indomitability. He stood for boldness. He stood for dash and drive. He stood for ‘a bit of dog’ in a time when dog was being lost. He stood for a refusal to back down. He stood for courage under fire and the rout of the impossible.
Perhaps the best tribute to pay him is that he has honoured the memory of his late father, Ged, by following his example. Ged was known for an almost comical disregard for pain. At one stage of his rugby league career, he chose to have an injured finger amputated so he could return to playing more quickly.
Stokes has pushed through the pain barrier time and time again in the cause of cricket. There have been times when it felt as if he was gaining a masochistic pleasure out of forcing himself beyond the limits others submit to. It felt as if his father’s memory drove him on. Now, at least, he can rest, knowing he did his father proud.
Stokes was a lot more than a hard man, of course. He was an inspirational leader and he had the sharpest brain in English cricket. He was born to be England captain and it was only off-field diversions that prevented him getting the job earlier.
Ben Stokes is given a guard of honour after the news of his retirement broke at Trent Bridge on Sunday
Now, it is hard to avoid the feeling that lesser men than him have brought him down and caused him to bring a premature end to his England career. His treatment by the cricket establishment after a nightclub ‘incident’ after the First Test against New Zealand was a betrayal.
It has come to something when a man who has given as much to English cricket as Stokes should be humiliated by being punished for something he had no involvement in. Stokes did not even see the unprovoked attack by a Saracens rugby player on his teammate Gus Atkinson and yet he was portrayed as an irresponsible leader for it.
The Test was over by then. The Test had been won. The idea of a curfew was moot. And so are we now to hold our cricketers to a standard where, if they are in an environment where trouble occurs, even if they are not involved in it, even if they are in another part of a building or a stadium, they are to be sanctioned for it?
In those circumstances, I don’t blame Stokes for walking away. I don’t see how he could have continued to work with people who treated him like that, people who hung him out to dry and then talked about concern for his mental well-being. Stokes deserved much, much better than that.
But sometimes that is the lot of a strong, unbending man like Stokes who comes up against the straight lines and scared pragmatism of bureaucrats. He deserved better but none of it will tarnish the memory of what he achieved.
Stokes’s most memorable innings, an unbeaten 135, saw off Australia at Headingley in 2019
He was England’s matchwinner in the greatest, most stomach-churning, nerve-racking game of cricket I ever saw, the World Cup final against New Zealand at Lord’s in summer of 2019. He was a swashbuckling cavalier, a genius with bat and ball, an entertainer whose part in the Bazball revolution brought the joy back into English cricket after a period in the doldrums.
I missed day four of the third Ashes Test at Headingley later that summer when Stokes smashed 135 not out as England chased down 359, almost single-handedly dragging the team to victory after being joined by last-man Jack Leach with 73 runs still needed.
But I am always keen to point out I was there at the end of day three when he scored three runs off his first 73 balls. I can tell myself I saw that innings. I had a foothold in it. Like so many others in the course of the brilliant career of Ben Stokes, I wanted to feel I had shared in the magic.
