Latest news with #Bawden
Indian Express
14-07-2025
- Sport
- Indian Express
England vs India: How Ben Stokes conquered the demons in his mind to become his team's all-weather talisman
Two men simply refused to fade away on a long sunny day in London. India's Ravindra Jadeja and England's Ben Stokes, who wouldn't let go of the ball all day at Lord's. Nothing moved him. Not the presence of Jofra Archer or the unused Chris Woakes; almost as if he didn't trust anyone else to do the job. Before tea on Monday, he hurtled in for a 10-over spell. Before lunch, he had already had another long spell that had started on Sunday night. His veins burst through his bearded face, eyes sunk in as he stared at the batsmen or at spaces on the field. Whenever he felt energy was sapping from his teammates, the man who must have been absolutely battered physically would stand there, clap his hands ferociously and yell out words of encouragement. It felt he was willing to do anything for England. And to think 12 years ago, former England coach Andy Flower had to tell him: 'You don't want to play for England. You just want to piss it up the wall with your mates, and have a good time'. Stokes had broken the team curfew on the England Lions tour to Australia and returned at 5.30 in the morning. It seemed a real talent would be consumed by a self-destructive streak. On a dry hot July day in London in 2013, Stokes sidled into the seats in the stands at Lord's, and sat next to psychologist Mark Bawden. He had struggled through the season, was feeling down with his performance, so much so that his captain at Durham, Paul Collingwood, had texted him, 'are you ok?' But the boisterous tattooed-star wasn't in a mood to expose his vulnerabilities to a teammate yet. Luckily, he realised the damage he was doing to himself, and dialled a psychologist. Bawden soon sensed that Stokes was suffering from the 'Bottle Bottle Bang' syndrome'. In normal lingo, it meant Stokes was bottling up his emotions inside him, and it kept festering inside until it explodes. In March 2014, the frustration of a poor tour of the West Indies saw Stokes punching the locker in the dressing room, breaking his hand, which forced him to miss the ICC World T20. Bottle bottle bang. More regular meet-ups with Bawden followed and Stokes was given a routine to manage his anger: go to the dressing room and pack up your kit bag. That packing process apparently has helped Stokes in calming down a few times. Bawden likes to classify his sporting subjects in two types: Assassins (thinkers) and Warriors (feelers). He puts Alastair Cook in the former, while Stokes falls in the 'warrior' category. 'One thing I try and do is de-myth confidence for people, who often think that confidence is having absolutely no doubt and unbreakable self-belief. In normal life, everybody experiences fear, anxiety and self-doubt,' Bawden once said. 'My job is helping people realise that confidence isn't the absence of fear or doubt, it's trust in your method.' More bad events shadowed Stokes, though. A pub fight that threatened his career, the death of his father, and the mental-health struggle, but slowly the tide turned. He became an ODI World Cup star, a T20 World Cup champion and above all, the Test captain with Brendon McCullum as head coach. He took a break due to mental-health issues, returned to take over the Test captaincy and even Joe Root, the former captain, would be moved to say that he has never enjoyed cricket as much as he has done under Stokes. That trust in his own method that Bawden talked about has meant Stokes doesn't get too flustered if he ends up miscuing some of his shots. Or if the wickets don't come despite him running in to bowl for a couple of hours. He keeps at it. Like he did all day at Lord's on a most bizarre day of Test cricket in recent memory. Jadeja refused to take a backward step. Stokes refused as well. And so both teams were caught in a magnificent deadlock. Jadeja didn't buckle but fate finally did, as a ball that was defended dourly by Mohammed Siraj somehow rolled past the batsman, rolled over the Indian dreams, clattered into the stumps and landed the match into Stokes's laps. There was no anger or frustration in the end, and Stokes will pack that kit bag in utter joy.
BBC News
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Ceramic cats purchased by The Higgins Bedford 'huge mews'
One of the artists who created a pair of cats inspired by John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress said she was left "overwhelmed" after they were purchased by a museum for £6,000. Ceramic artists Vicky Lindo and Bill Brookes made the works Despair and Promise for the Bawden and Me exhibition at The Higgins Bedford. Miss Lindo said: "It's the ultimate for any artists to have your work in public collections, as when we die it will still be there."Victoria Partridge, The Higgins' keeper of fine and ceramic arts, said: "I'm thrilled that we get to keep them in Bedford forever - it really is huge mews." Miss Lindo said: "It's incredible - when we made the work we didn't expect that this would be the outcome. "You make it and hope someone might want to buy it but it's never really the goal. "It's overwhelming. It's really special because it belongs to everyone and anyone can go and look at it." The cats were purchased with £4,800 from The Arts Council England/V&A Purchase Grant Fund and £1,200 from The Trustees of The Cecil Higgins Art were made for the Bawden and Me exhibition, which featured work by 40 artists and creators who were able to access Bawden's extensive archive to create new pieces inspired by his was one of The Higgins's most successful exhibitions and attracted 36,000 visitors, Mrs Partridge said. Miss Lindo said she was immediately drawn to Bawden's tapestry of The Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's Dream. She said she did not know the story, but listened to the audiobook as they worked, which became "immersive research".Cats were chosen as the main inspiration as they are her "DNA" and Bawden "was cat mad", she added. Ms Partridge said: "When the cats were on display they were universally admired, especially by children, because it's a lovely way of talking about John Bunyan's story through the medium of cats."As soon as I saw them, when I opened the box, I knew we had to have them for the collection, because they have such amazing links with Bedford, through the work of nationally acclaimed artists." Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
