He's all smiles but is this the new Flintoff?
In the Independent on Sunday , Jon Culley says: "The temptation to hail Ben Stokes as the new Freddie Flintoff – maybe even the new Ian Botham – has already proved too much for some to resist
George Binoy
25-Feb-2013
In the Independent on Sunday, Jon Culley says: "The temptation to hail Ben Stokes as the new Freddie Flintoff – maybe even the new Ian Botham – has already proved too much for some to resist. His employers do not care for such labels, which they see as inviting unwelcome pressure. Yet if you will insist on taking three wickets in one over, knocking off a 135-ball hundred and then hitting five consecutive balls for six, all in the same day, it is difficult to avoid being noticed."
Perhaps his background will help him cope. His father, Ged, is a former New Zealand rugby league international who brought the family to England in 2003 when he was offered the coach's job at Workington. Ben, born in Christchurch – although with no trace of a Kiwi accent, and ambitions only to play for England – was 12, and while he had played a little cricket, he was more interested in following his dad into rugby. While some of his mates might have imagined themselves being Flintoff, such fantasies never crossed his mind.
Three matches into the current season the County Championship already appears to be undergoing a generational changing of the guard, showcasing not just the much lauded endeavours of Reece Topley – a 17-year-old fast bowler from Essex who is currently the leading wicket-taker in the country – but a thickening posse of young English batsmen with their eye on an early-season Test spot, writes Barney Ronay in the Observer
George Binoy is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo