Ben Stokes fell agonisingly short of hitting six sixes in an over, as he struck five sixes in a row off the left-arm spin of Josh Baker before the sixth and final ball fell just short of the boundary rope and went for four.

Stokes arrived at the crease with Durham 360-4 and just two overs into the second day’s play; David Bedingham was at the other end and on 81. As the two walked off 25 overs later for lunch, Durham were on 549, with Stokes on 147 and Bedingham on 119. It had been carnage.

At one stage Stokes had scored 46 off eight balls as part of a record-breaking innings where he hit the most sixes (17) ever hit in  a single County Championship innings, beating the record previously held by Andrew Symonds and Graham Napier.

Finishing on 161 off 88 balls, the highlight of Stokes innings, the first since he became England Test captain, came in a single over against 18-year-old spinner Josh Baker. Stokes hit five consecutive sixes before the final ball of the over fell agonisingly short of the boundary. In doing so, Stokes became only the fourth player in Championship history to hit five sixes in a row and hit the fastest first-class century for Durham of all time (a milestone that came up with the fifth six of the over).

Watch the record-breaking over here:

Related tags:

Ben StokesCounty CricketSeries Editorial