The first innings of the second Test between England and West Indies at Manchester was, to put it kindly, one for the purists. But one shot from Ben Stokes almost made all the attrition worth it by itself.
The left-hander largely eschewed aggression over the course of his 176. Coming in at 356 balls, it was his longest Test innings by over 100 deliveries, with his 258 at Cape Town taking just over half the time. However, it also included the first two sixes of the series.
The first, on day one, was muscled with Stokes coming down the track and going through with a lofted shot against Roston Chase, despite not being to the pitch. The second was something else entirely, Stokes playing a kind of lofted drive, with minimal follow through, but somehow clearing midwicket with ease. The clip shows the stroke in question if that description hasn’t quite conveyed what happened, though even having seen it, you might struggle to believe it.
This is glorious from Ben Stokes.#ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/GvBspswBcp
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) July 17, 2020
Speaking to Sky Sports Cricket on a rain-ruined third day, the all-rounder explained the thinking behind the miracle shot.
Having brought up his tenth Test match ton, Stokes had decided to put the hammer down; the game needed accelerating. As Alzarri Joseph ran in with the score 283-3, Stokes had already made up his mind that if it was up, it was off. “I’d hit mid-on quite a few times throughout that innings, Jason [Holder] had made his mid-on and mid-off come quite straight, so I was getting a little bit frustrated. I was hitting some good shots straight to the fielder and I didn’t think it was that big of a risk to try and go over the top.”
Stokes admitted, despite seemingly having middled it, the ball didn’t go exactly where intended. “Hand on heart I did try to go over mid-on. It was a bit like my golf swing – I got a bit of an unintended draw on it and it just kept on going.”
Stokes was batting with Dom Sibley when he dispatched Joseph into the empty stand, who himself had just reached three figures for the second time in Test match cricket. Sibley couldn’t match Stokes for fluency once both decided to take the attack to the West Indies’ bowlers. However England’s vice-captain spoke of the Warwickshire opener in glowing terms. “Having him at the top of the order to be that rock and allowing everybody else to play around him is exactly what we want from him. You know, he knows the job that he needs to do for us and he’s performed it very well in his short career so far.”
