Sky Views: Why Ben Stokes should not be given a knighthood

Sky Views: Why Ben Stokes should not be given a knighthood

Katerina Vittozzi, North of England correspondent

A week is a long time in politics, ditto in an Ashes Series.

Last Monday, we woke up hoarse after screaming England to an improbable Headingley win.

Today, we woke up knowing England's chances of a series win are shot.

England may still draw the Ashes, there's one last test at The Oval starting on Thursday, but after that Australia will get on a plane and take that little urn back from whence it came.


Image: Ben Stokes has been a man chasing not runs, but atonement

Thankfully, I have a robust self-defence mechanism for dealing with such disappointment.

Like many people who grew up watching England lose Ashes after Ashes in the 80s and 90s, I carry a permanent acorn of anxiety that a drubbing by the Aussies is inevitable.

A loss doesn't hurt because, well, that's just the way it has always been.

Oh, for the angst-free joy of being a millennial cricket fan.

Still, at least in this series, to misquote that 1942 classic Casablanca, we'll always have Leeds.

Leeds, and that glorious final hour. Where one man, Ben Stokes, saved the series, albeit temporarily.

Stokes has had the best summer of his career. He has been extraordinary - carrying England, Atlas-like, to a World Cup win and almost single-handedly allaying Ashes defeat at Headingley.

He has been so stand-out, he has already been dubbed 'Sir Ben Stokes' on social media, in newspaper headlines and even on electronic boards across Manchester.

But I ask this, to whoever chooses who gets a New Year's gong: Please, if you want to see England win again, don't give Ben Stokes a knighthood. Not an MBE, nor OBE.

Ben Stokes plays best when he has something to prove. When he's down, facing defeat, Stokes shines.

Ben Stokes plays best when he has something to prove. When he's down, facing defeat, Stokes shines.

Forget carrots, Stokes needs stick.

The 2005 Ashes taught us this.

After that remarkable win, led by then captain Michael Vaughan, the England team were handed MBEs like half-time orange slices. They were carried through London on a open-topped bus; received by the prime minister at Downing Street.

While Australia were plotting, England players were vaunted, and well-paid in the ensuing months thanks to endorsements for everything from cars to banks, energy drinks to newspapers (and that was just Andrew Flintoff).

When they arrived in Brisbane for the first Ashes test 18-months later, the team didn't look hungry.

Steve Harmison's first wide delivery at Brisbane, and his nervous chuckle after, set the tone for that humbling 5-0 whitewash. It set back English cricket for years.

Image: If Ben Stokes gets a gong, will his hunger be gone?

Ben Stokes wasn't selected for the 2017/18 Ashes series because of his involvement in a street brawl outside a Bristol nightclub in September 2017. He was given an eight-match ban too.

You may have seen video of the incident, or read about the court case during which Stokes was found not guilty of affray.

It was a tawdry episode and some say that's enough of a reason to hold off on the honours for now, anyway.

But my view is more selfishly about his sporting performance.

Stokes was always good. But he has come back from that enforced break looking almost Achillean.

He has been a man chasing not runs, but atonement.

Give him a gong, and that hunger may be gone. We can't take that risk with England's precious all-rounder.

Image: Forget carrots, Ben Stokes needs stick

So, I have an alternative. Don Bradman, the great Australian cricketer, received a knighthood in 1949.

What about a Sir-ship for the player made in his likeness, Steve Smith?

Smith has been the thorn in England's side in this series. He, like Stokes, came back a better player after a 12-month ban for ball-tampering.

The boos from the terraces at the start of this Ashes series only seemed to galvanise him. Again, like Stokes, Smith had something to prove. And look how he has proved it.

So why not give Smith a coddling knighthood? Fete him, vaunt him, drown him with carrots!

It might give England the edge they need when these two sides meet again.

Sky Views is a series of comment pieces by Sky News editors and correspondents, published every morning. (Martha Kelner is away).

Previously on Sky Views: Deborah Haynes - 'Girly swot', 'big girl's blouse' are sexist jibes and shouldn't be used by the PM