Ashes 2023: "Who Knows, If I Did Take That Catch, We Could Have Got Josh Hazlewood Out First Ball" - Ben Stokes On Dropping Nathan Lyon's Catch

England captain Ben Stokes opened up about dropping Nathan Lyon’s catch on Day 5 of the first Test match against Australia in the ongoing Ashes 2023. Ben Stokes believes that England would’ve won the match if he had grabbed Nathan Lyon’s catch at Edgbaston in Birmingham.

Ben Stokes missed a tough catch on the final session of the final day’s play on Tuesday, June 21. Stokes, who was standing at square leg, almost grabbed a one-handed stunner before the ball slipped from his hands. Lyon made the most of the opportunity and scored an unbeaten 16 runs off 28 balls.

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It’s Mad How Things Go Around Like That – Ben Stokes

In the post-game press conference, Ben Stokes compared the drop catch to Nathan Lyon’s incident when the Australian spinner missed a straightforward run-out chance four years ago.

“Who knows, if I did take that catch, we could have got Josh (Hazlewood) out first ball, and, then, we win the game. But Josh could have come in, (and) they still could have knocked the runs off. You just never know,” Ben Stokes said.

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“It’s amazing. It’s sort of going back to Headingley with Gaz (Lyon) dropping the ball over the stumps. It’s amazing how the world comes around. Isn’t it? You know, I drop that catch, and, then, he’s not out at the end, being there as the winning team – being out there as a not-out batsman for Australia. It’s mad how things go around like that,” he added.

During the Ashes 2019 series, Lyon missed Jack Leach’s run-out at Headingley. Ben Stokes played an epic knock in the match to help the team win by one wicket.

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It Was In My Hand, Just Didn’t Manage To Stick – Ben Stokes

Ben Stokes admitted that he didn’t pick up the ball and initially thought it was coming at his chest height, but it went over his head.

“Just reliving it in my head now; it was in my hand, just didn’t manage to stick. I just didn’t pick it up, to be honest. It’s quite a hard seeing ground when it first comes off the bat, especially square of the wicket.” he further added.

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“So, didn’t quite gauge where it was going initially. And then I thought it was actually going to be here (indicating chest height) to start, but then realized it was going over my head. One of those shoulda, woulda, coulda moments. Would have been a good catch, wouldn’t it?” he concluded.

Lyon’s score was 2 when his catch was dropped in the final innings of the match. Skipper Pat Cummins added an unbeaten 55-run partnership with Lyon for the ninth wicket to chase down the target of 281 runs.

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