Josh Tongue admitted England have missed the influence of Ben Stokes after a day in which they crumbled to the brink of defeat in the second Test against New Zealand at the Oval. While they were doing so the team’s full-time captain, forced out of international duty for disciplinary reasons, was 275 miles north at Chester-le-Street, scoring a swashbuckling 95 for Durham in the County Championship.
England ended the fourth day on 182 for five, a distant 281 from victory, after the tourists scored 362 in their second innings. The home side have worked this week under the interim captaincy of Joe Root, on whose back their slender hopes once again lie, after he became the second player in Test history to pass 14,000 career runs on his way to an unbeaten 75,
“Yeah, we’ve missed him,” Tongue said of Stokes. “He’s an unbelievable player. Obviously I made my debut when he was captain, so I’ve got huge respect for Stokesy and it’s always nice seeing him get some runs as well. But obviously we’ve got a lot of leaders in our team. Rooty has stepped up as captain, he’s obviously an unbelievable player and an unbelievable leader.”
While admitting England have been weakened by Stokes’s absence, Tongue had nothing but praise for his stand-in, even if Root’s second stint in charge seems unlikely to be a successful one. It now appears likely to end after this Test, with the England & Wales Cricket Board’s investigation into the curfew breach that forced Stokes and Gus Atkinson out of it apparently close to a conclusion that will allow their return for the third game at Trent Bridge.
“He’s an unbelievable player,” the 28-year-old said of Root. “I’ve watched him for many years now and it’s a massive honour to be in the same changing room as him. As captain this week he’s been unbelievable with me, making sure my plans are clear before bowling – and he did that with every other bowler as well. He’s been very positive, in terms of the debriefs that we have at the end of days, and the days leading into the game as well, having our little plans and stuff and just making sure we’re clear as bowlers going into each day.”
The day started with Henry Nicholls, who replaced Kane Williamson at No 3 for this game after the latter’s unexpected retirement, adding just two to his overnight total of 119 before he was caught at slip off Jofra Archer. “No one’s going to replace Kane. He’s an incredible player, an incredible person, and I’ve been lucky enough to play a lot of my career with him,” he said. “So there were certainly mixed emotions coming in to that No 3 spot. But any time you play you’ve got a role, and for me I was just trying to do that as well as I could.”
Though the Kiwis are on the verge of winning what would be only their third Test in this country in 18 attempts since the start of 2000, they will not allow any triumphalism to set in while England’s stand-in captain remains at the crease. “When you’ve got someone like Joe Root out there, his class and everything that comes with him, he’s going to be the big wicket,” Nicholls said. “It’s going to take a lot of effort. It’s Test cricket. It’s been four hard days and we’re expecting the same again tomorrow.”