Ben Stokes fixed on beating South Africa by setting benchmark with bat

Even by his own standards, it has been some week for Ben Stokes. After baring his soul before the release of his new documentary, outlining the panic attacks he continues to manage, it is back to business for the England captain and his team when the second Test against South Africa begins on Thursday.

The challenge is considerable. Dean Elgar’s attack scorched their way to the 1-0 lead at Lord’s, Kagiso Rabada setting things up with five wickets in the first innings and Anrich Nortje whistling up some of the quickest spells witnessed from a visitor in recent times. Old Trafford, where the traditional bounce called for Ollie Robinson’s return to the England XI, has Elgar tipping them to “get much better” this week.

To that end, the focus returns to England’s batting lineup – one they have kept faith with here – and the diagnosis from their head coach, Brendon McCullum, that they need to “go harder” than at Lord’s. This mantra is something Stokes has looked to embody all summer, emerging at No 6 in a mood that has been bristling, bordering on reckless, and chiefly producing cameos rather than innings of substance.It is not like Stokes doesn’t know the virtue of playing the long game at times. In Cape Town in early 2020, when England levelled a series they went on to win, he handed his player-of-the-match award to Dom Sibley – the medal going back and forth between kit bags until the opener finally relented – after an eight-hour unbeaten 133 which, to pinch a line from Mike Selvey, was grittier than an egg sandwich on a windblown beach.During his most memorable Test innings of all, the unbeaten 134 at Headingley in 2019, Stokes was famously three not out from 73 balls before igniting the afterburners. And even against