The brilliance of Ben Stokes

Test cricket, bloody hell! For years, it’s been getting the last rites – now it’s the most exciting way anyone can spend five days. The scale of England’s synapse-stunning victory over New Zealand at Trent Bridge is boggling enough: England’s fifth-highest run chase (299) and fastest ever; the highest number of boundaries scored in a Test; a 77-ball hundred from Jonny Bairstow; Bairstow and Ben Stokes rumbling along after tea at 16 an over – unheard of in Test cricket.

But it was about much more than mere stats: the feel-good factor poured out of Nottingham. This was an exuberant, exciting, free-flowing game, with players willing to challenge the traditions of how Test cricket is played. These are not your usual ‘Test’ batsmen, willing to ‘shut up shop’ for session after session, but hugely gifted all-round players giving of their best.

Rob Key, English cricket’s managing director, advised fans to ‘buckle up and get ready for the ride’ after appointing Brendon (‘Baz’) McCullum, a Kiwi, as coach, and Stokes, a man with a lot of Kiwi in his blood, as skipper.