The second Test between England and West Indies at Old Trafford in Manchester has reached an exciting stage. The hosts declared the second innings on 129/3, setting a target of 312 for the visitors to win the Test on the final day.
For England, Ben Stokes yet again shimmered and played a magnificent unbeaten 78-run knock which guided England to go past the lead of 300 runs. The star all-rounder just took 57 deliveries to score these runs.
Stokes, who opened in a Test match for the first time, struck four fours and three sixes during his phenomenal knock. The southpaw displayed his intentions right from the word go on Day 5.
During the 9th over of England’s second innings, Stokes smashed a humongous six which went way deep into the empty stands. It was the last ball of Kemar Roach’s over when the Christchurch-born saw the opportunity to score the maximum.
Roach came round the wicket and bowled a short of a good length delivery outside off stump. Stokes took a couple of steps down the pitch and smoked the red ball over the long-off region for a gigantic hit.
Here is the video:
No messing around from @benstokes38 this morning! 💥
Scorecard & Clips: https://t.co/Jr8JJyRQaw#ENGvWI pic.twitter.com/TEEFnPeZRh
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) July 20, 2020
Earlier, in the first innings, Stokes missed out from scoring another double hundred of his glorious Test career. The 29-year-old played a marathon inning of 176 runs and guided his team to go past the 450-run mark. The English all-rounder is carrying on his golden form of 2019 in the current year as well. He is the leading run-scorer of 2020 at present. In 5 matches, the left-handed batsman has scored 612 runs at a breathtaking average of 76.50 with two centuries and as many fifties.
