GEORGE DOBELL AT TRENT BRIDGE: Underlining the change of approach in the current side, Stokes insisted that, even if he and Bairstow had fallen cheaply, he would have instructed the tail to continue to attack
Ben Stokes has hailed England's victory in the Trent Bridge Test as perhaps the finest achievement of his remarkable career.
Stokes, a man with a player of the match award from a World Cup final and one of the Ashes' finest centuries behind him, suggested England's five-wicket win in Nottingham "blows away" his previous triumphs.
And he rated Jonny Bairstow’s match-clinching century, the second-fastest Test hundred ever made by an England player, as "one of the best things I've ever seen".
Stokes and Bairstow added 179 runs together – including a spell of 102 in nine overs – which helped England achieve a record run-chase in a Test in Nottingham. Baristow's century took just 77 balls as England completed their tough-looking run-chase of 299 in 72 overs with 22 of them remaining.
It meant England took an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series against the world Test champions and assured them of a first series win since January 2021 and the tour of Sri Lanka. And that left Stokes full of pride in the transformation of a side who came into the series with just one win in their 17 most recent Tests.
"That blows away Headingley," Stokes said. "It blows away Lord's and the World Cup final.
"Just emotionally and the enjoyment of every minute I had on that field. It was incredible. The whole vibe this week has been awesome. And then to come out and perform the way that we did today…
"Jonny's innings was mind-blowing. There's something we say in the dressing-room about him having 'Jonny eyes' and he had those today. When he gets those eyes know you're on to something. That was one of the best things I've ever seen. And to do it in the fourth innings, chasing a big total with the game in the balance… To play the way he did after he made 50, it was phenomenal to watch."
Stokes hit the winning runs at Trent Bridge (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Of particular satisfaction to Stokes was the manner in which his side have bought into his desire to play a relentlessly positive style of cricket. After several weeks of talking about it in the media, he felt it proved they could put words into actions. And he suggested there was much more to come from them.
"I couldn't be any more proud of the way that everybody stuck at it," Stokes said. "When you come in with a new mentality and a new approach, it's a lot easier said than done.
"But what everyone's seen over the last two games is that we are going to go out and play the way we speak in the media. I'm struggling to find words for what we witnessed out there today. It was just phenomenal.
"I just can't quite wrap my head around how we've chased 299 with 20 overs left on day five of the Test match when we had to bowl 15 overs this morning. That's never going to happen again. But if it does, it is probably us who are going to do it.
"With this group of players, I have absolutely no idea what the limits are. The sky's the limit. But we could probably go further than that."
It was only a year ago that England declined to even think about chasing a similar target offered to them by New Zealand at Lord's. But, underlining the change of approach in the current side, Stokes insisted that, even if he and Bairstow had fallen cheaply, he would have instructed the tail to continue to attack. The draw, as he put it, was not even a consideration.
Bairstow made 136 off just 90 balls (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
"The message just was run into the fear of what the game was rather than standstill or back away from it," Stokes said. "I'll say it quite simply: we were either winning this game or losing it. That was the mentality that we wanted all the batters coming in to have.
"It's obviously paid off. When you have the backing of the coach and captain, it rubs off on the players in a very positive way. So you're not fearing failure. You're just going out and doing what you want to do. Am I surprised by how far we've come so far? Yes. I know things like this do not happen overnight.
"But this couldn't have been a better start in terms of the new way we want to go forward. We know we're still working towards a lot of things. We're never going to be happy with where we are. There are going to be some bad days. We'll probably lose a game with this mind-set.
"Now we go to Headingley 2-0 up. We've won the series. But we're going to be even more positive in Leeds. I don't know how we can be more positive than this week but we will probably try."
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