Ben Stokes. Benjamin Stokes. Sir Ben Stokes? Well! The manner in which Durham all-rounder has been playing in the past few years and especially last summer, one wouldn’t have any reservations in asserting Sir before his name.
Ben Stokes belongs to that rare breed of cricketers whose brilliance is not restricted to mere statistical numbers. In-fact players like Stokes can never be judged by their stats. Like Andrew Flintoff, Stokes is an impact player and we have seen that on a plethora of instances in the past six years.
The Durham all-rounder is celebrating his 29th birthday today. And, so what better occasion than today to reminisce some of his match-winning performances in his career thus far.
Here’s a look at top-5 match-winning performances by Ben Stokes-
Also Read: Top 5 Memorable Steve Smith Innings In Test Cricket
102* off 109 balls vs Australia, ICC Champions Trophy 2017
It was a crucial group-stage encounter of the 2017 Champions Trophy and the hosts, in reply to Australia’s 9-277, were in all sorts of trouble after Jos Hazlewood [2-50] and Mitchell Starc [1-52] had wreaked havoc on their top-order, reducing them to 3-35 within the first six overs.
Enter Ben Stokes. The all-rounder hadn’t managed to score an ODI hundred up until that point in his 45-match career and he fittingly chose this game to break the duck.
What happened last time we played Australia in an ODI?
WATCH: https://t.co/iXR7sMoHNh pic.twitter.com/5kt54Crvg5
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) January 12, 2018
Stokes proceeded to belt the Australian attack to all corners of the Edgbaston Cricket Ground and all along with skipper Eoin Morgan [87] and Jos Buttler [29*] took the home side from the brink of elimination to a place in the semi-finals.
Stokes stroked 2 sixes and 13 fours in his unbeaten 109-ball 102 to knock the Aussies out of the Champions Trophy.
