The Ashes 2023: 'Ben Stokes has shown Australia he is not scared'

England did so much well on day two of the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston that the missed opportunities will really frustrate them.

If either team can gain a lead of 50 runs on this pitch it will be crucial.

There is almost no seam or swing, but there are signs of uneven bounce and the surface is starting to turn, most notably with Moeen Ali's vicious delivery to bowl Cameron Green.

Had Jonny Bairstow not missed his stumping and dropped a catch, had Stuart Broad not overstepped when bowling Usman Khawaja, England would have been in the driving seat to gain that advantage.

Instead, with Australia 82 runs behind England with five wickets remaining, it is anybody's game.

• Wasteful England defied by classy Khawaja century

Stokes was playing with Australia

What this day confirmed once and for all to me is how Ben Stokes is totally unique as a captain. I have never seen another like him in my time.

He stood up and told Australia: "I'm not scared of you."

He said: "I will bowl Harry Brook to your best batsman and I will keep the field up no matter how much you attack."

England's captain was playing with Australia and that makes this series even more tantalising.

The decision to bring on Brook almost immediately after Steve Smith came to the crease was an interesting tactic and really, really funny.

Club cricketers will have faced people like Brook. He is a real part-timer - a seamer with an ugly action - while Smith has repelled England so many times.

The obvious move would have been for James Anderson or Stuart Broad to pitch the ball up, look for an edge and pack the slips, but Stokes thought 'I'm going to bring this part-timer on and you'll be terrified of getting out'.

Just because it did not work on this occasion does not mean it was not a great thought.

Stokes captains how he lives his life

Stokes seems to view anything defensive as a backwards step. That is how he lives his life.

In his team he has a spinner in Moeen who was retired two weeks ago, who was supposed to be spending this series working for us on Test Match Special, and who was attacked by Travis Head and Khawaja after lunch.

The Australia pair struck 10 boundaries, including three straight sixes, but Stokes defied what the rest of us were thinking, refusing to put a fielder on the boundary despite the grumbles in the commentary box.

I hate to see a fielder on the boundary too early. A batsman has to have a few goes at it before a captain does so, but even I was thinking Moeen needed some protection.

Stokes does not conform, however, and was rewarded when Head dragged a catch to mid-wicket while trying to hit Moeen into the stands.

In my era spinners used to toss the ball up with a man back and try to tease the batter to hit in the air - hopefully to a fielder.

This was the reverse but still the same idea.

So much of cricket is played in the mind and Stokes has shown how keen he is to use that to his advantage.

It was Stokes one, the rest of us nil.

Bairstow still has credit in the bank

Even if the pitch looks likely to deteriorate, it is still a surface where you cannot afford to give up chances.

England's errors were bad misses - mistakes - and these things happen.

People argue that no-balls are bowled because of a lack of rhythm, but Broad was the only member of England's attack who played against Ireland at the start of the month.

There will be those questioning Ben Foakes' absence in the team after he was dropped for this series when Bairstow recovered from his leg injury and took the gloves.

Bairstow, though, has credit in the bank for his crucial run-a-ball 78 on day one. Without his seventh-wicket stand of 121 with Joe Root, England would already be behind.

Bairstow must also be praised for his one-handed, diving catch to dismiss Marnus Labuschagne for a first-ball duck.

Bairstow will be annoyed at himself but he cannot be criticised too heavily.

We must also praise Khawaja, who played in brilliantly classical fashion for his unbeaten 126.

He had scored only one Test fifty on his previous visits to England and celebrated like a man from whom a weight had been lifted.

Jonathan Agnew was speaking to BBC Sport's Matthew Henry.