Six Of The Best By England's Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes will join Test cricket's 100-cap club when the England captain leads the tourists against India in Rajkot on Thursday. AFP Sport looks at some of the all-rounder's most memorable performances in the five-day game:
Dec 2013, Perth: 120 v Australia
Stokes provided England with a rare highlight during a miserable 2013/14 Ashes with a gutsy fourth-innings hundred against an impressive Australia pace attack that came just months after England coach Andy Flower had warned he was wasting his talent following some wayward behaviour on a second-string Lions trip.
May 2015, Lord's: 101 v New Zealand
Injuries, a lack of form and uncertainty over his role meant Stokes' Test career was becoming a stop-start affair. But he responded to being promoted to number six in the batting order with two dashing innings, a rescue act of 92 followed by an 85-ball hundred -- the quickest in a Test at Lord's. He then dismissed Kane Williamson and Brendon McCullum, now England's coach, with successive deliveries in an England win.
August 2015, Trent Bridge: 6-36 v Australia
Stokes' batting may be his stronger suit but this match demonstrated his worth, when fully fit, as a bowler and in the field. His superb one-handed catch to dismiss Adam Voges helped paceman Stuart Broad to a headline-grabbing return of 8-15 as Australia collapsed to 60 all out. And it was Stokes who sealed victory with an excellent second-innings display of swing bowling as England regained the Ashes.
January 2016, Cape Town: 258 v South Africa
Coming in with England faltering at 167-4, Stokes struck the second-fastest Test double century of all time, off just 163 balls. Stokes hit 30 fours and 11 sixes in total and also shared a partnership of 399 with Jonny Bairstow (150 not out) that remains the highest sixth-wicket stand in Test history. Michael Atherton, a former England captain, said of Stokes' innings: "In terms of sustained hitting, the demolition of an entire attack, I haven't seen anything like it before."
August 2019, Headingley: 135 not out v Australia
Just over a year after being acquitted of affray in a court case that threatened his career and some six weeks on from his World Cup final heroics, Stokes played arguably his greatest innings. Following England's woeful first-innings 67 all out, Stokes atoned with an arduous return of 3-56 and then somehow managed to get England to a victory target of 359. Having carefully played himself in, Stokes -- with just last man Jack Leach for company, hit out in spectacular fashion to secure a scarcely credible one-wicket win.
August 2022, Old Trafford: 103 v South Africa
Also Read: Join Our WhatsApp Channel For World Cup Updates
Stokes' reign as captain alongside coach McCullum started with four straight wins. Their 'Bazball' approach was criticised, however, following a defeat by South Africa at Lord's. But Stokes, again showing how he could pace an innings, helped turn things around with a composed hundred in Manchester and also took top-order wickets in both of South Africa's innings as England returned to winning ways.