Stokes and some other blokes
I was ambivalent about Ben Stokes for a long time. Not negative at all, but ambivalent, wary of overpraising him in light of his actual regular contribution and his impressive not thereto mindblowing statistical record. Some of that neutrality and caution was fair, some of it was, of course, an emotional response. We can’t really help the sportspeople we love. The England cricketers I’ve loved, whose triumphs and disasters I’ve felt with every fibre, have been David Gower, Graeme Hick, Mark Ramprakash, Phil Tufnell, Devon Malcolm, Chris Lewis, Michael Atherton, Ben Hollioake, Andrew Flintoff, Ian Bell, Adil Rashid (and I think Jofra’s on the way there …). I’ve loved them for a few different reasons – character, talent and potential, vulnerability, perceived victimhood/outsider status. In quite a few cases, I’ve loved them because I caught an early glimpse and so felt invested in their journey – Bell I was lucky enough to see when he was about 11, Hollioake 15, Ramps was known