Ben Stokes named man of the match in England's third Test win
Tuesday 1 August 2017 22:40, UK
Nasser Hussain picked out Ben Stokes for praise after the England all-rounder's man-of-the-match winning display in the heavy third Test win over South Africa at The Oval.
Stokes scored a sensation 112 as England compiled 353 crucial first-innings runs, in testing conditions batting first, before taking three wickets with the ball.
Stokes also took the catches at slip for the first two wickets of Moeen Ali's hat-trick that clinched an emphatic 239-run win that sees England into a 2-1 lead in the four-Test series.
"The maturity and improvement in Stokes' game has come from the hard work he puts in," said Hussain. "This lad is no fool. He is not one just to rely on natural talent; what will be, will be.
"We see him out there every morning working hard at his game, whether he has got runs or not.
"He keeps himself pretty level. He's not someone that looks at things and says: 'I've had two good months, got a £1.5m IPL contract, so I'll rest on that'.'
"He's a lad that is constantly trying to improve is game. He has been a bit a bit behind the curve with red-ball bowling, for example, so he has been out there practising every morning with the ball, and, sure enough, every game in the series his bowling has improved.
"He has set the tone in this England team. He and a few of the boys were bristling about the comments of 'not respecting' Test match cricket after the Trent Bridge defeat.
"They wanted to prove that they did. The way Ben batted, the way Alastair Cook batted, the way the whole team batted in that first innings to get over 300 showed they do."
A common trend in England's recent Test results, though, is to follow a win with a defeat and vice versa. Hussain has urged the team to follow the same template that has carried them to victory at The Oval with them to Old Trafford.
"England need to stop that swing-o-meter going in opposite directions," added Hussain. "You look at them; they win one, lose one.
"I think that comes from them thinking, we've played well here, so shall we now adopt this new 'brand' and 'style' of cricket where we really go out and express ourselves?
"No. Play exactly the same again, and you'll get the same result. They now have the template with the win here for them to carry on.
"England have a really good bowling attack, so if they get runs in the first innings, they are a very formidable team and can challenge any side in the world."
