At 4.17pm on Saturday Ben Stokes’s work with the bat this summer come to an end. Nathan Lyon, the bungling henchman to his superhero at Headingley, got one to dip into the pads, rag past the outside edge and kiss the top of off stump.
It was a beautiful piece of spin bowling. But when a drowsy Oval crowd offered Stokes the polite applause that a score of 67 might usually merit, a chance to thank the all-rounder for his efforts during this epic home season felt slightly missed.
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