Ben Stokes is embarrassing himself

Thanks a lot, skip, I owe you one. To the growing list of odd takes from ex-England captain Ben Stokes, we can add the claim that Harry Brook is a greater force than Kevin Pietersen. That is right up there with Stokes’s decision to open the batting on his final engagement as an England cricketer. Talk about piling on the pressure. None would argue that Brook is anything other than a brilliant batsman. 3,610 runs at an average of 53 in 41 matches, is evidence of that but let’s have some context here. The time to judge Brook is when he carries his bat in a series-winning Test in South Africa, where he has never toured, or does something similar to win the Ashes, perhaps. Something else he has yet to achieve. Indeed, in ten Tests against Australia, Brook has yet to surpass 85. Stokes formulated his wild observation while watching Brook flay a group of sub-80mph toilers in a Twenty20 panto in Southampton. Apart from the keeper, there was not a fielder behind the wicket in a catching position, as per in T20 matches since percentages do not favour the ball passing the bat. Few pick length and swing through the line as impressively as Brook, but why choose a contest utterly without jeopardy to go hard with cosmic claims? “Is it really that hard to just sit back and admire these players for what they are, on the good days and the bad days, and stop berating them for doing things that we would never, ever, ever even think of doing because we simply aren’t on their level to think that way?” Stokes asked. The paradox of absolutely not sitting back and admiring is the least of Stokes’s problems. By framing his remarks as a beauty contest in which Brook relegates Pietersen to the £10 prize for second place, Stokes invites comparison with an England great who has actually led the team to notable victories. Come back to us when Brook has bounced 158 off 187 deliveries to secure the Ashes at The Oval next summer. Pietersen did just that in 2005 against an attack that featured all-time greats Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne, plus the Wollongong Express, Brett Lee, who saw a 95mph bouncer carted over square leg for six. The numbers are impressive enough yet gain in significance when delivered in the charged circumstances of facing elite adversaries in an historic contest in a series decider. How do you want me to play it? Pietersen asked skipper Michael Vaughan. As you see it, came the reply. The rest, as they say… Brook was similarly dizzying in going down on one knee to send Dunith Wellalage to the boundary at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday night, triggering a lava flow of Harry love from Nasser Hussain and Stuart Broad on commentary. Just to emphasise the difference in setting, the ball was travelling 17mph slower and Brook was sucking on a pipe at the time (not true, but you get the point). Same skill, different demand. Twenty years after Pietersen’s Oval fantasia, Brook hit one of his own, a mesmerising 111 off 98 balls in the final Test of the series against India. For some it surpassed his 317 against Pakistan in Multan. Read more Analysis: Nine England problems Stephen Fleming has to fix before they face South Africa Chris Stocks: What I learned from Kevin Pietersen’s first day as England’s ‘specialist mentor’ Brook and Joe Root steered England past 300 for the loss of just three wickets on the final day. You know what happened next. Brook charged at Akash Deep, the bat went one way, the ball the other and England never recovered. Do we pile in for another needless Brook exit or do as Stokes suggests, sit back and admire the iridescence of it all? Ultimately Brook dazzled but England fell short. Pietersen shimmered in leading England to victory. Sorry Ben. Unless the point of it all has shifted. You know, winning. That has to mean more.