Watch: Ben Stokes, At No.9, Gets Bowled By Low Bounce In County Championship

After a swashbuckling start to his innings, which included a couple of boundaries and the only six by a Durham batter, Ben Stokes looked set to score back-to-back fifties against Worcestershire in the County Championship at Chester-le-street yesterday (July 1). However, as soon as it seemed like he had his eye in, the England captain was deceived by a Tom Taylor delivery that stayed low and beat his defences to give the seamer his fourth wicket of the innings on the final ball of day two.

The left-handed batter was beaten all ends up, but not before scoring a quickfire 26 in Durham's second innings, in what has so far been a low-scoring game, in which only five players across both teams – other than the England captain – have crossed 20.

Stokes' attacking innings, in which he took the attack to the Worcestershire bowlers on a tricky pitch, could be attributed to the fact that he walked in to bat at No.9 with his ride reeling at 106-7, as Durham had sent Matthew Potts and Peter Siddle at No.4 and No.5 as nightwatchmen the previous evening.

Durham were 148-9 at the end of day two, having scored 190 in the first innings. In response, Worcestershire managed to score 112, almost half of which were scored by Kashif Ali. Durham lead by 226 and will get their third win of the season if they defend the target they set.

Stokes will also play a key role with the ball if Durham are to win. He has been in impressive form with the ball in hand and has taken 16 wickets in his last five bowling innings for Durham. With an uneven pitch playing plenty of tricks, he may even send down a delivery or two not dissimilar to the one that uprooted his stumps.