alfie wrote: It remains to be seen whether a short break and a concentration on red ball will restore Stokes to a role as a fully effective all rounder. I am (possibly over optimistically ?) hopeful it will ; but surely it is at least possible ?
I listen to a lot of sports podcasts while cooking or working, and I would say that one consistent thread that retired legendary players talk about in interviews about their careers, in terms of what is required to meet the demands of top level performance (and its consistent across all sports), is having the sheer determination and motivation to continually put your body and mind through the brutal processes that prepare you to perform at the highest level. Those processes get more difficult with the passing of time, and in every sense - A 33 year old at the top of their sport has probably spent 20 years of their life waking up when its cold and dark every morning and dragging themselves out for a run. Then following it up with several hourstechnical work. Then going to the gym for strength training. Doing this every day for 20 years gets harder and harder.
I listened to Shannon Sharpe, a three time NFL superbowl winner and hall of famer the other day talk about it. He was asked what made him great; he responded by saying being a terrible husband, being a terrible father to his children, never going to a family birthday party, never celebrating his own, being a bad friend. He said he didnt know a single elite player who wasnt the same. Its a sacrifice you need to make to be always at the best level of preparation. You never miss training. You don't stop. He said the moment he did, he declined rapidly and retired.
That is the element that makes me doubtful about Stokes ability to get back to where he was. He made a choice a few years ago that being that person who was solely focused on cricket was something he could not maintain. It wasn't sustainable. It effected his mental health. His performances, as I have argued are clearly declining since that choice (although you disagree) do seem to operate in parallel with that drop in his intensity. And there can be no surprise with that.
If youu compare the same person as a 25 year old who is hell bent on working as hard as he can, with a point to prove and the confidence and arrogance of youth, and with a career and a bank balance to forge, and then have them base their entire life around hitting the ball better or being as good as they can... and then compare them to the same person as a 33 year old who can no longer put himself through that insane workload, who now has two young children and a wife to care about besides cricket and simply doesnt have the time to always be about cirkcet, who has more money than most people dream of.... which do you think is likely to be a better elites sportsman? And lets remember, at 33 your body recovers slower. The injuries of the past start to make you ache or take away your peak power or ability to be quicker, stronger, fitter. You might to start to lose your reaction speed or eye-sight... The bottom line really is, for the 33 year old to be physically comparable to the 25 year old version, the 33 year old has to work even harder to combat ageing. That is another consistent point you find retired people making. People still in elite sports by 35-40 are working more than they ever did, and still might decline in output and be worse as players for it.
Resting and playing less in itself has no positive effect. Quite the opposite in fact, resting unless we are talking about recovering after a period of intense physical activity in the short term, would just make you lose fitness and match sharpness. It will make you decline technically when not playing. And as stated, the older you are, the harder you then need to work to get back up to the level you once occupied at peak performance. Resting is only useful in a way that it allows a sportsperson to put themselves once again through that brutal process. It gives you the motivation to be able to work harder, or in theory can. So yes, if we say he missed a tour but came back with more energy, and said "ill wake up at 4am instead of 5am for that run now"... yeah, it can improve you, and yes, its essentially for all sportsman to avoid burn out to have that rest period now and then.
So really, the question boils down to a simple one.... is it possible, or likely, that Ben Stokes at 33 can go back to doing what Ben Stokes at 25 was doing to prepare himself for top level sport, knowing that the pressure and intensity of doing that lead to him more than once quitting the game at various points with mental health problems, and him expressing the fact that this made him hate cricket, and that he needed to stop being that person?
Possible? Maybe. I dont know if form a bowling perspective if the injuries have left a permanent problem in his ability to bowl long spells or affected his pace. As a batsman, its possible with a lot of hard work.
Is it likely.... ??... Close to 0%. He literally said he can't be that person he once was, and what we are seeing is him pulling out off cricket and saying he needs to rest. If we take the 5am alarm clock going off for tht daily run and workout to start, this is akin to turning it off and going back to sleep. It wont make you a better player, and will make you worse.