At No 6, Ali cannot bat with the same freedom as when he is lower down the order CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY IMAGESThe consequences of Ben Stokes’s absence from the Ashes are many and varied. But the holes needed filling, and the load spread because no single cricketer could do all those jobs. England needed a new vice-captain, and forward stepped James Anderson. They needed to pick an extra bowler, and Jake Ball’s proving to be a solid selection. They needed someone to field at third slip to Moeen Ali (another load on Joe Root’s plate) or gully to the seamers (Dawid…

Source: The Times November 24, 2017 17:03 UTC