Ben Stokes: ‘England captain looks as fit as ever and I was enthused by bowling return’ – Steven Finn column

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Ben Stokes: ‘England captain looks as fit as ever and I was enthused by bowling return’ – Steven Finn column

Ben Stokes does not do things by halves.

When the England captain was 10 overs into a spell on the evening of day two of the first Test against West Indies, my left knee and I were wincing.

I had memories of me coming back from my first knee surgery, after returning home early from the Ashes series in 2017-18.

In all honesty, I was never the same bowler after it.

My inability to consistently brace my knee at the point my front foot hit the floor led to me being down on pace, down on consistency and down on confidence for the rest of my career.

After my third knee surgery at the close of the 2022 season and an unsuccessful reintroduction to bowling halfway through 2023, I gave up the ghost and retired from cricket, having chased my tail for the previous six seasons trying to rediscover the snap and ***** I had prior to my first knee surgery.

This makes it even more impressive to see Stokes running in with such vigour and intent after his most recent knee surgery.

I watched closely when he brought himself on to bowl.

Usually you can’t take your eyes off the game when Stokes is involved because of the propensity for things to happen.

But, as a former knee injury sufferer, I was particularly intrigued to see how he got on with the ball in hand.

The first thing you look for is whether there is anything within the technique that looks different.

I used to have a few videos of me at my best and would always compare and see if I could replicate those from before my first surgery. I never truly did.

I had one from behind so I could see the height of my arm and one from the side so that I could see if my leg was bracing and at what stage it was bracing.

At Lord’s, when Stokes’ left heel was striking the ground in his delivery stride, his left knee was bracing and locking out.

This braced leg then acted as a pivot for the rest of his body to contort over with his bowling arm up high in his unique ‘beyond the perpendicular’ style.

The right hip and right knee then drove hard towards the target of off stump and the ball was released from his hand with swing, zip and control.

I wasn’t particularly looking at the speed **** when he was bowling, I was looking at how braced that front knee was and how much he was committing to each delivery at the crease.

I was very enthused by what I saw.

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