Ben Stokes Provides Inside Story From His Historic Headingley Knock

England all-rounder Ben Stokes has had a very good year in his cricketing career. From winning the ICC World Cup to saving the Ashes against Australia, this cricketer had had a dream run. Meanwhile, it was his match-winning knock at Headingley which will go down in the history books. And now, Stokes himself has revealed what motivated him to win the match for his country.

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At 1-0 down in the Ashes with three games left to play Ben Stokes had picked up the man of the match for his hundred in the draw at Lord’s. But better was to come as he took England to a miraculous win at Headingley with a famous 76-run stand with Number 11 Jack Leach.

He remained unbeaten on135 to help the hosts clinch victory from the jaws of defeat and level the series 1-1. In his new book titled ‘On Fire’, Ben Stokes revealed that David Warner kept sledging him while he was trying to save the match for England and that really motivated him to win the match.

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“I had extra personal motivation due to some things that were said to me out on the field on the evening of day three when I was trying to get through to stumps,” Stokes revealed in an extract published in Daily Mirror. “A few of the Aussies were being quite chirpy, but in particular David Warner seemed to have his heart set on disrupting me.”

“He just wouldn’t shut up for most of my time out there. I could accept it from just about any other opponent. Truly. Not from him, though,” he added.

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In addition, Ben Stokes felt that David Warner was trying to get his bad boys sleeves on to improve his performance. The Aussie came to the Ashes on the back of a prolific World Cup campaign but things changed with the change in format. Stuart Broad gave him a really tough time in England as he endured a horrific time with the bat in England.

“Although he’d enjoyed a prolific World Cup campaign, he had struggled with the bat at the start of the Ashes and was perhaps turning to his old ways to try to get the best out of himself. The nice-guy act had done nothing for his runs column,” Stokes concluded.