Delhi: The upcoming Ashes is a huge test for Ben Stokes, both as England captain and as a player of the type who is nowhere to be found. Is he the last player who can be called an amazing fast bowler and all-rounder? Today’s cricket lovers keep reading and hearing stories about the performances of all-rounders like Ian Botham, Kapil Dev, Imran Khan and Richard Hadlee in Test cricket. Along with these, the names of Clive Rice and Mike Procter could also have been added, but Test cricket was unlucky that it could not see their full glory. Stokes is almost the same as he was and now that he is 34 years old, we can say that he is going to play the most special Ashes series of his career.

Many experts also add Malcolm Marshall’s name to this list of all-rounders, but in reality he was not a real all-rounder. He was a mediocre batsman (proof: Test average only 18.85) but an amazing fast bowler. There can be no better example than Sir Garfield Sobers of what an amazing all-rounder can do for any team. When he played, he used to say that the West Indies team plays with 12 players because he could have come into the West Indies team either as a pure batsman or a pure bowler. Just like one feels sometimes watching Ravindra Jadeja play.

There is often a debate as to who is called an all-rounder? The answer in most experts’ cases is that a player whose batting average is better than his bowling average. Stokes is one of the few players left in this dying tradition. Ravindra Jadeja is also there but he is not a fast bowler but a spin all-rounder. An excellent cricketer, the proof of which is his batting average of 38.73 and bowling average of 25.21. Just a few days ago, he scored 519 runs and took 7 wickets in the Test series in England.

In the current era, more spin all-rounders are emerging than fast bowlers and all-rounders and the changing formats in cricket are largely responsible for this. Therefore, Stokes is considered to be one of the breeds which is gradually disappearing. ICC’s Test all-rounder ranking also shows the same. Jadeja is on top, Stokes is at number 3. Stokes playing for England is a bonus but the record also presents a different kind of challenge. Ian Botham shone in the 1978-79 and 1986-87 series, there were heroics from Trevor Bailey in 1954-55 or Tony Greig in 1974-75, but overall the Ashes series in Australia have not been very good for all-rounders, just as it has never been a friendly country to older players.

Therefore the challenge for Stokes becomes even bigger. Will they be able to change this thinking and tradition? We are not able to see cricketers like him in Test cricket and this time’s Ashes will probably decide how long we will be able to see him playing? Current Test record: 7032 runs in 115 Tests at an average of 35.69, along with 14 centuries, along with 230 wickets at an average of 31.64. Of these, Australia recorded 515 runs in 9 Tests at an average of 28.61 along with 1 century along with 19 wickets at an average of 40.94.