LONDON (AP) — Nobody embraces an Ashes mission impossible like Ben Stokes.
The England captain started the last day of the second test against Australia with his side four down and a distant 257 runs from victory at Lord’s.
He was on 29 overnight, and cruised untroubled on Sunday morning.
But when Australia’s smart dismissal of Jonny Bairstow left Stokes as England’s last recognized batsman, he flipped a switch.
He was on 62 after 162 balls, but the tail was exposed. Sixteen balls later, he was on 100, and sending Lord’s into delirium.
His third century in the fourth innings of a men’s Ashes test tied him for the most with Don Bradman and Bert Sutcliffe.
The Australians spread themselves around the boundary to try and contain Stokes but couldn’t, and belief crept over Lord’s that England might actually pull off the greatest runs chase ever witnessed at the home of cricket.
Stokes was dropped on 114 and 115, the latter marking the unbeaten score he made at Lord’s in 2019 in an Ashes draw.
“I dropped him (on 114) so I was glad we got him in the end,” Australia’s Steve Smith said. “He’s an unbelievable player, some of the things he can pull off. The way he went about it, he was pretty much just trying to hit one way. He’s a freak.”
Stokes lashed one of his nine sixes one-handed over fine leg. He added nine boundaries.
He flew past the 135 score he pulled off at Headingley in 2019 in one of the most famous Ashes innings. Stokes had 3 from 73 balls then shepherded the tail with a barrage rarely seen to give England an unbelievable win.
“I did look back at Headingley but unfortunately it wasn’t enough (today),” Stokes said.
He had England 70 runs from victory when he fell for 155 from 214 balls, the last 93 runs from 52 balls. He top-edged a short ball behind off Josh Hazlewood.
Even the Australians joined the crowd’s applause, then wrapped up England’s second innings less than an hour later to win by 43 runs and go 2-0 up in the series.
“My innings wasn’t a response to the (Bairstow) dismissal, it was a response to where the game was,” Stokes said.
“I felt my scoring option was batting with the slope coming towards me. I had to be mindful and strategic about the risk I was going to take and felt my best options was taking the fielders out of play.”
As England coach Brendon ‘Baz’ McCullum is the architect of Bazball, his choice of captain a year ago, Stokes, is its chief protagonist. Full of self-belief and courage, Stokes wants to go the distance and keep inspiring the team to follow his lead.
“The last 12 months, Brendon has been trying to get complete and utter clarity. The worst thing is you can think, ‘Do I or don’t I (go for it)?’ We’re saying if you want to have a mindset of playing the game the way you want to, there is no second guessing. When I played, I wanted to ride this out till the end of the day. I walked out with complete clarity about how I wanted to take the ball on.”
McCullum enjoyed the show.
“Ben Stokes is a freak of a player. He writes some scripts, he’s our captain and leader, and the faith that he has with the players and the way he carries himself, his morals, we are so lucky to have him. That’s why we go into the third test still believing.”
___
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Copyright © 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
