"New Stokes" from "New England"

England have high hopes on him. // Image: IBTimes

Ben Stokes, a New Zealand born youngster started his test career for England in 2^nd test of the 2013-2014 Ashes series Down-under. Though his debut wasn’t up to the mark, he certainly had left a mark in the English side by his skills and techniques to bat freely and bowl with a good line and length. His pace, too, was consistently touching 145 kph mark. Making a debut in Ashes is certainly the most nervous feeling for any English or Australian player. In his debut, he got couple of wickets but he initially failed to prove his batting skills as he got out for just a run in the first innings. There was nothing different in second innings as he remained wicket less and scored only 28 runs.

However, the English selectors couldn’t have afforded to leave him out for the 3^rd test after seeing his skills and his strong will to play and win matches. He was much more like Freddy by mind. In the 3^rd test of Ashes, he bounced back hard and proved his worth in the team by an ecstatic all-round performance in the second innings. He managed to take 2 important wickets of the strong Australian batting line up. He still wasn’t satisfied as he went on to make a century. He scored 120 of 195 balls including 18 fours and a six, and proved the selectors right. He had won the trust of England players. But there was a disappointment soon as England lost that test, losing second in a row. 

Here's the best way to sledge him. // Image: TheCrickBlog

From here, he had almost cemented his place in the English side as continued to flourish with his all-round excellence. Everyone has a bad phase in cricketing life, so did he had. There was a period where he had started getting dismissed cheaply and being wicket less with ball in hand. In this bad phase, he scored few ducks and many single digit scores. However, his bad phase didn’t let his place be vanished from the side as he went on to score his second test century against New Zealand in the last series. This century came off pretty quickly as well as aggressively of 85 balls at Lords. This was the fastest century by any player at Lords. This was the score of second innings, but how can we forget that he had just missed his century by 8 runs in the first innings. Those 92 runs too came off quickly of only 94 balls. From then he went on to make consecutive 50+ scores at Lords, being in a good form.

Now, he is an important asset in the English side with the bat as well as with the ball, acting as a 4^th bowler. His form in this Ashes series will be very important as he can win matches single-handedly. He has already scored well in the first two tests and proved to be a threat along with Joe Root. 

If he keeps going well, he can make that trophy out of reach for the Aussies as the visitors are hungry for it since 14 long years.