Ben Stokes retires: the bottle, the kit bag, and a career like no other

He had already sat down with a psychologist by then, at Lord’s on a July day in 2013, sidling into the stands next to Mark Bawden. His captain at Durham had texted him: are you ok? He wasn’t. He told Bawden instead.

Ben Stokes in action. (FILE photo)Bawden gave his verdict: Stokes was suffering from Bottle Bottle Bang syndrome. He had been throwing his emotions into a glass bottle for years. Bawden gave him a routine for the worst moments: go to the dressing room and pack up your kit bag. “My job is helping people realise that confidence isn’t the absence of fear or doubt. It’s trust in your method.” In March 2014 Stokes punched a locker and broke his hand. The bottle had banged again. ***Story continues below this ad A 258 in Cape Town in 2016. The fastest 250 in Test history. Eleven sixes, an England record. Then the T20 World Cup final in Kolkata. West Indies needed 19 off the last over, Carlos Brathwaite hit Stokes for four consecutive sixes. The bottle banged in public. He let the sixes go. That was new. ALSO READ | How Ben Stokes conquered the demons in his mind to become his team’s all-weather talisman Bristol, September 2017. A nightclub. Arrested. Charged with affray. Dropped from the Ashes tour. “The hardest bit was when the day had finished and I had gone back to my room. I didn’t want to leave the hotel. I was just sat on my bed.” Found not guilty. Fined. Returned, quietly, rebuilt. 2019 World Cup final, Lord’s. England fall to 86 for 4. Stokes makes 84 not out, ties the game, bats again in the Super Over. England win on boundary count. Six weeks later, Headingley. England set 359, slide to 286 for 9, last man Jack Leach at the other end. Leach scores one run. Stokes scores the rest. England win by one wicket.Story continues below this ad

Hyderabad: England’s batter Ben Stokes plays a shot during the first day of the first Test cricket match between India and England, at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024. (PTI Photo/Shailendra Bhojak)His father Ged died in December 2020 from brain cancer. In June 2021 Stokes announced an indefinite break. “It was like I had a glass bottle I kept on throwing my emotions into. Eventually, it got too full and just exploded.” Five months away. He came back, as he always came back.

Joe Root resigned the captaincy in April 2022. Stokes was appointed. With Brendon McCullum he built Bazball. England swept New Zealand, swept Pakistan in Pakistan. Stokes became only the second cricketer, alongside Kallis, to combine 7,000 Test runs with 250 Test wickets. Twenty Tests without a hundred. He gave it to the team instead. A 4-1 in India where the batting collapsed whenever the ball moved. Another 4-1 in Australia. The method had limits. ALSO READ | From white ball to red, Ben Stokes a finisher unlike any otherStory continues below this ad Brook. Chelsea. Curfews. And in that Trent Bridge Test, Stokes having to gesture Archer over on the field — a public summons to join a celebration the man had refused. The freedom Stokes modelled had been earned through arrest, trial, breakdown, a father’s death. It wasn’t clear it was transferable. Bazball said: express yo