Taking sport too seriously

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...

Aah, the cricket. That was good, wasn’t it? I’ll confess, after the first loss to Australia, I wrote a forlorn load of words about all the small details which meant this four-year project had been blown at the final hurdle. I am very much he of little faith. I remained so to the very end – moaning to myself about the little things that I thought should be different … I thought Stokes was batting too slowly, I thought Rashid should have gone in above Archer, I thought Stokes shouldn’t bat the super over, I thought Archer shouldn’t bowl the super over, I thought Roy shouldn’t have been at deep midwicket, I thought Archer should have bowled more short balls in the super over, I thought, I thought, I thought … and who cares … Though, maybe, even though I was wrong, I was a bit right. You know, it’s funny to think if Stokes had been caught on the boundary by Boult/Guptill, as he really should have been, his innings would be looked at as a fatally flawed contribution, a Dhoni-l...

Why has it gone so wrong for England in the West Indies? What has happened to the team that had won 8 of their last 9 test matches? I thought I’d have a quick look at possible factors in terms of what changed in between Sri Lanka and Barbados/what was done wrong/what was a bit unlucky etc. Firstly, the obvious and most important is the positive - West Indies have just strung together their best two tests for who knows how long. They’ve been almost unflinchingly skilful and assiduous. This is not as much of a surprise as some people are saying. There have been significant signs of improvement under Jason Holder for years. Holder himself was recently injured, which affected the team badly. He came back on top form – he is a top class all-rounder (his bowling has improved beyond measure recently) and a fine leader. A crop of underperforming talented batsmen have applied themselves well, and they have, for the first time in forever, an attack of 4 quicks which at least pays lip s...