Fit and firing Ben Stokes takes two wickets on Durham return in boost for England

England, at this rate, will have their all-rounder back for the first Test series this summer against West Indies. Their captain Ben Stokes came through his first day of bowling this season, in his first County Championship match for Durham for two years, with two wickets and flying colours.

It could even be said that the best thing that England’s supporters have seen this calendar year, at least since the first Test victory in India, was the sight of Stokes’s left knee when he warmed up in shorts before Durham’s day in the field against Lancashire. Not a bandage or strapping in sight, on either knee, not even on the left one, which had major surgery last autumn.

England need their all-rounder back: Stokes has become a specialist batsman, and inspirational captain, taking only six wickets in his last 16 Tests. Admittedly the last of those six was a humdinger, when he opened the bowling after lunch in the fifth Test in Dharamsala and zipped past Rohit Sharma’s outside edge. But England need their all-rounder back, as a fifth bowler, to balance their Test side.

Ben Raine was delighted to see Stokes back with ball in hand, saying: “Stokesy has played so much cricket at such a high level you could imagine this being a bit below him, but it isn’t. He’s 100 per cent all the time. It’s so refreshing to see that.

“You saw him today running in. He’s had his knee operation and to see him bowling pain free and happy with his bowling, it’s great for English cricket. I’m looking forward to seeing the summer he has.”

Stokes hit the Stanley Park pitch as hard as any of Durham’s five seamers after they had sent Lancashire in. Stokes was not quicker than Matthew Potts but he made the ball bounce more steeply and made the loudest thwack into the wicketkeeper’s gloves, those of the other Ollie Robinson, who might become the Ollie Robinson in the course of this summer.

Stokes started rustily, not so much in terms of pace as direction, because Lancashire’s left-handed opening pair threw all of Durham’s bowlers offline to some extent. In Stokes’s first four overs he conceded a couple of no-balls and free hits down the legside (4-0-26-0) but he tightened up in his two overs before lunch, and perhaps the most encouraging feature was his fielding off his own bowling: at the end of his follow-through he would change course, to right or left, with the old animal hunger for the ball and electric suddenness.

Extending his workload, Stokes bowled six overs in the afternoon session and took his first wicket. If the ball itself had no great intrinsic merit, there might have been some cunning old-pro thinking to exploit a loss of concentration. Josh Bohannon had just taken an unscheduled break to wipe the inside of his helmet: Stokes immediately gave him a short ball which he pulled to long-leg.

Stokes’s wicket in the evening session was that of a steady New Zealander Tom Bruce. Another short ball by Stokes might have stopped in the pitch, before Bruce offered the dolliest of return catches. Pitches at out-grounds, like out-grounds themselves, have a freshness and lack of predictability: hence the charm.

For Lancashire, Keaton Jennings, the captain and a former England team-mate of Stokes, scored a composed and fluent 115.

Throughout the day Stokes was politely received by the crowd which lined the boundaries, without threatening the ground record of 13,000. When his name was announced in Durham’s team, applause rippled like a quiet wave on the beach. But what Stokes is doing is not the least amazing feature of his career, to come back from major surgery at the age of 33 and maybe bowl his best again.

Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 3 months with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.