How many times can England drink in the last chance saloon?
At 2-0 down in the home Ashes of 2023, this regime may have crumbled had England not won the third Test at Headingley.
Surely someone would have carried the can if the away Ashes had been lost 5-0, a clean sweep avoided when England scraped a win in Melbourne. What if Sam Curran had not defended 10 runs in the final over against Nepal to avoid an all-timer of a shock at the T20 World Cup?
Here we are again.
It is not certain a loss in Nottingham will result with a head on a spike, though the noise that was deafening in the aftermath of the Ashes will be amplified again. How many defeats are too many? How much chaos is too much? When can a reset not be reset?
Stokes was honest and almost emotional when he spoke on Wednesday, describing what he had been through in the past two weeks. If he looked flustered, he had just come from more than an hour batting in the nets.
Some noticed the skipper only referred to his time as captain in the short term, with lots of mentions of “this week”. He also said he loves being an England player and loves being captain, so it feels unlikely that a departure is imminent.
Once again, Stokes was adamant there is no issue between him and head coach Brendon McCullum, echoing what McCullum said on Tuesday. Perhaps we must take that at face value. Both have said they are “good mates”.
But Stokes was not forthcoming when asked about the support he has or hasn’t had from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
“It was a process that needed to be played out. The process has been played out,” he said.
At this point, it’s important to stress the ECB have denied he was asked to resign the captaincy. When it was put to a senior source that someone wanted him out, the word used to rebuff the suggestion is unprintable.
Neither ECB chief executive Richard Gould nor chairman Richard Thompson have spoken publicly, so have not answered questions on their stance.
Besides, if Stokes leaves nightclubs before the curfew, his interaction with the board will be limited, so long as England start winning Test matches.
And, if there was mitigation for the defeat in the second Test, there is no hiding place this week.
England have their first-choice XI at Trent Bridge, and Stokes needs some of his big names to step up.
At times, Jofra Archer looked electric at The Oval, and at others he looked short of match fitness. He needs to repay the slack that allowed him a full Indian Premier League stint.
The same goes for Jacob Bethell, who has batted only 14 times in red-ball cricket in the past 18 months. Almost a third of Bethell’s runs from his eight-Test career came in his breakthrough hundred in Sydney, a knock he cannot dine out on forever.
Stokes went in to bat for Ben Duckett in the aftermath of the Noosa social media video, and now Stokes needs Duckett to bat for him – literally. The opener has not made a half-century in his past 14 Test innings.
In terms of doing all they can to get the right results, England are certainly looking much more focused than they did in Australia.
There has been an acceptance they were understaffed in the coaching department and the beefed-up backroom has improved training.
Jamie Smith barely did a wicketkeeping drill in Australia, yet has been worked hard by Sarah Taylor, who on Tuesday was also teaching a throwing technique to Josh Tongue to help with his troublesome shoulder.
Jeetan Patel has been able to give more attention to Shoaib Bashir and more coaches has meant more attention for batters in the nets.
Trent Bridge has been kind to some of this England team. It is home for Duckett and Tongue, while Joe Root averages nearly 70 here. Almost a quarter of Bashir’s 68 Test wickets have come in two matches in Nottingham.
As for Stokes, this is where he sealed his only Ashes series triumph – the one-handed wonder catch off a stunned Stuart Broad in 2015. Trent Bridge is the spiritual home of Bazball, the win over New Zealand four years ago, with Stokes as the non-striker as Jonny Bairstow hit the ball further and further into the stands.
This is also the ground where Stokes played his first Test after being cleared of affray in 2018. On that occasion, there were some boos. That feels unlikely this week.
“The atmosphere is always mint,” said Stokes. “I don’t think it will be any different this week.
“After everything has gone on in the past two weeks, yes, I appreciate the support, but also the team appreciates it.
“Don’t feel like you’ve only got to cheer bigger for me, make sure you cheer as big as you can for the other 10 players that are going out to play for the country as well because we’ll all be busting a gut to get that series win.”
Going down swinging? We’ll see.
