For once on this tour the Ben Stokes who clears bars and empties beds and the Jonny Bairstow of 2016 both turned up
![Stokes and Bairstow show why England are still worth waking up for | Andy Bull](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/b291753836be1e19c6838ea072d681b4bd414177/299_103_2675_1605/master/2675.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=de50c3ba175b9ac3acdb1d0a635f470a)
There comes a point on every Ashes tour when even the most ardent
England fan has to ask whether the
Cricket is worth getting out of bed for. It’s a complex set of calculations in which you have to weigh the score in the series and the state of the game, the likelihood of the team being humiliated again, the ambient temperature of the bedroom, the distance to the TV set, the hour and whatever you’ve got on the next day. Exhaustion multiplied by dejection divided by hope. Whatever the answer is, it absolutely isn’t 36 for four off 21.5 overs, 3-0 down in the series, 380 runs behind in the match, at three in the morning.
That’s the time to make like the team have been, and roll over.