Root and Ollie Robinson had looted 20 runs from a Nathan Lyon over when Stokes – wearing training kit and a bucket hat at the time – called his batters in, leaving just over a quarter of an hour for David Warner and Usman Khawaja to face the new ball on the first day of this summer’s Ashes series at Edgbaston.
Khawaja was beaten by Robinson on the outside edge and neither opener looked comfortable, with a series of near mix-ups as they ran between the wickets. But Australia made it through to the close unscathed, reaching 14 for 0 in four overs to trail by 379 runs heading into the second day.
“I’m sure there are many decisions that Ben has made that have probably taken commentators and some people by surprise,” Bairstow said. “It was no surprise to us. You’ll all be aware that a 20-minute slot for any opening pair is something that’s not very nice and can be a bit niggly.
“It was a decision that Ben and Brendon [McCullum] made in conjunction with the bowlers. It’s a shot to nothing, isn’t it? You can walk off and there might be an unbelievable ball in there – there might be a loose shot or whatever.
“But we’ll come back tomorrow with a ball that’s four overs old, a fresh bowling attack and a team that are really looking forward to the challenge.”
Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “It’s a bold call. It’s a good call. There will be conversations around it, but no-one likes going out there with 20 minutes and four overs, when you’ve got Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson running in at the end of the day that’s been a bit of a toil.”
This was the fourth time that England have declared their first innings within 90 overs since Stokes took over as captain on a full-time basis last year, and the second earliest of those after he pulled the plug 58.2 overs into the Mount Maunganui Test in February.
“We didn’t know anything about it [in advance],” said Bairstow, who first knew it was coming at “three minutes past six”. He added: “It was a scramble to get the old tape on, pads on, and the rest. When you’re not expecting [something], it’s sometimes the best form of attack.”