The beauty and the will

"He's an absolute beauty, that boy," said Ben Stokes, grin broadening as he shook his head. He was talking about Jofra Archer, his pace ace, who'd watched a highlights reel showing Sourav Ganguly's shirt-waving moment on the Lord's balcony, and thought it marked this day six years ago. When, in fact, six years ago to the day, it was Archer himself delivering England a World Cup in a Super Over.

Now, six years on, they were at it once again, authoring another red-letter day at this famous old venue. Archer with pace to burn, Stokes with a lung to burst. It ended with England scraping home by 22 runs on the final day of a pulsating, slow-burn Test.

The fifth day, though, was razzmatazz central. Lord's was heaving, mostly spontaneous, occasionally orchestrated by an England slip fielder. Business tycoons, a Bollywood star, and many other unidentified importants dotted the stands. But when it was showtime, it needed the showmen to seize centre stage. And they did.

Stokes' aforementioned description of Archer could just as easily have been about the ball his returning quick bowled to Rishabh Pant at the day's very start, with the fate of the game very delicately poised. Delivered from wide of the crease, angled in, then straightening just enough to hit the top of off. "Charge that!" he is supposed to have mouthed to India's vice-captain, who had indeed charged him just minutes earlier, skipping down, one-handedly driving Archer to long-on for four.

Archer produced another moment of magic in that first hour, skipping sideways in his follow-through to complete a terrific return catch and send back Washington Sundar. From the other end, Stokes kept bounding in. And again. And again. Archer was done after six, but the overs in Stokes' spell kept ticking over... 5... 6... 7... 8. It ended with 9.2 overs, the two extra balls from the over he'd started last evening and left unfinished because he'd castled nighthawk Akash Deep with what became the last ball of the day.

This morning, he accounted for India's most technically assured batter of the game, KL Rahul, trapping him deep in the crease with an inswinger that was projected to crash into the stumps. Stokes, deep into his spell, was down on his knees in appeal. That's what that wicket meant in the context of the final day.

Curiously enough, the choice of opening bowlers - Stokes from the Nursery End and Archer from the Pavilion End - was a gut call. Brydon Carse, in fact, had opened the game up with the wickets of Shubman Gill and Karun Nair late last evening bowling from the end Archer was picked to start Day 5. But the recall of that 2019 World Cup final was too strong to not act on it. "It felt right in my tummy that Jof was gonna do something this morning to break the game open," Stokes said. "Gut feel doesn't always work but those two wickets he got this morning obviously swung the game massively in our favour."

Even after reducing India to 82 for 7, the opposition's finishing line 110 runs away, England weren't allowed to coolly breast the finishing tape. Instead, as the ball softened and life was drained out of the pitch, Ravindra Jadeja set about farming strike with the tail-ender and kept chipping away at the deficit. Stokes now willed himself onto bowl an even longer spell in the afternoon.

Ten straight overs from the Nursery End - this time for the reward of Jasprit Bumrah's wicket, who had survived 53 before failing in his attempts to pull the England captain over mid-on. In the first innings, a message had been passed from the dressing room asking Stokes to pull back and stop bowling. But with a Test match on the line, no one sent any messages, nor was Stokes in a mood to oblige.

"Bowling to win a Test match for your country on Day 5... however you wake up in the morning, if that doesn't get you going or up for going out there and putting in for your team, I don't know what will," Stokes said matter-of-factly.

"The game was on the line and that obviously is a completely different aspect and element to what it was. Today was going to be my decision on when I stopped bowling, as soon as I felt the person not to break the game open or take the wicket, that's when I decided 'right, enough's enough'. I felt threatening for most of the day, but when batters are in they feel more comfortable against whoever it is. Obviously changing who you bring on and giving a batter a new bowler to line up, to think about, that was the decision today. Today I was trying to bowl and win a game for my team."

By the time the winning moment arrived, Stokes was nearly dragging his feet to his fielding spots. His shirt clung to his back. He had long since emptied the tank, but was still driving England's final push through the sheer will of his personality. As he sat down later, he was 'knackered' enough to not be able to contextualise where this victory sat among the best he'd experienced. "I don't know. I think for me, winning on day five by 22 runs like we did is probably one of the most subdued celebrations I've ever been in off an England win," he said.

"Yeah, just didn't have a lot to give, to be honest, there with the celebrations. So it's a weird one. I mean, obviously it's a great game. It's a close game. You'd think I should be saying yes [it's the most satisfying win], but it's just quite hard to get my head around it at the moment if that makes sense. Just because I've obviously put a lot in over the last two days. So when you're physically and emotionally tired, it's hard to know. I reckon in two days time I'll be pretty pumped. But yeah, just pretty knackered at the moment to be honest, but obviously very happy that we've managed to get the win."

He did expect to recover on time for the next Test in Manchester with at least a week to put his feet up and recuperate. "I'll be absolutely sound for Manchester. It's a big break. Obviously, I was pretty tired after Headingley. But, yeah, after we walked off the field there, sort of whole new level of tiredness hit," he said.

"And it's obviously different when you're ... I've been in games like that before, not as a captain, where I've been given the ball to run in and try and bowl the team to victory. But then now, adding on the decision making around bowling changes, field placings, how I feel we're gonna get this win. Obviously, there's a physical element of bowling in the fourth innings, but then it shouldn't be underestimated how the emotional and mental tiredness does also get you as well."