MANCHESTER: Ben Stokes said he was now more than just a purely instinctive cricketer after the all-rounder’s latest superb century left England strongly-placed in the second Test against the West Indies.
Stokes top-scored with 176 in England’s first innings 469-9 declared, before the West Indies reached 32-1 at the close of Friday’s second day at Old Trafford.
This was the second-highest of Stokes’s 10 Test hundreds, behind his blistering 258 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2016.
But, more significantly, it was also his fourth Test century since the start of 2019, during which time the left-hander has averaged over 52 — the sign of a world-class batsman.
As was the case with his stunning 135 not out during a remarkable one-wicket win in the third Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley last year, Stokes had the discipline to play himself in against accurate bowling before picking the right moment to up the tempo.
He found a fine ally on Friday in Dom Sibley, the opener’s 120 his first Test century in England.
But with Sibley batting sedately — his hundred took the best part of eight hours — there was a danger of England getting bogged down in a match they need to win to level the three-Test series at 1-1.
Stokes, however, ensured that did not happen.
Having gone to a hundred in, by his standards, a restrained 255 balls, Stokes needed a mere 46 more for the third fifty of his innings as he punished a new ball being deployed by a tiring West Indies pace attack.
It was a sublime mixture of both skill and match awareness, the latest Stokes has displayed since being acquitted of an affray charge in 2018 after an incident outside a nightclub that saw him miss an Ashes tour and threatened to end his England career completely.
