STOKES TETCHY ON RUNS FALLOUT

COME back Bazball, all is forgiven - win or bust still knocks spots off euthanasia.

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Ben Stokes has drawn only two of his 37 Tests as England captain — and both were at Old Trafford.

‘Two years ago he was frustrated by rain handing the Ashes to Australia, and as India ground their way to safety on a strip of road on loan from Manchester's highways department, the fourth Test petered out like a dirt track in the mountains.

Ultimately, England lacked the firepower to clinch the series. They took just two wickets in the last five sessions of the match.

The scorebook tells us India made 425-4, leading by 114 runs, when the curtain fell.

But like every County Championship match at Old Trafford this summer, ultimately the pitch broke the bowlers’ hearts and stalemate was the winner. The true cost of England’s latest prolonged detention in the field may only become apparent if Stokes, Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer have enough gas in the tank for Thursday’s final Test at The Oval.

The smart money says all of them will not make it.

On a surface more deadpan than a newsreader, England needed Stokes — who had not turned his arm over in 63 overs of India’s second dig on Saturday - to join the attack.