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Cricket World Player of the Week - Ben Stokes

by Cricket World Tuesday 21 July 2020

©Cricket World

Cricket is back in anything but the normal environment. But, when Ben Stokes is named the Cricket World Player of the Week, it seems that normalcy has returned.

How many roles does Ben Stokes play, and how many gears does he have?

When he joined Dom Sibley at 81/3 on the afternoon of day 1 of the second Test, the advantage was still up for grabs. With a marathon 260-run partnership with Dom Sibley, Stokes ensured by the second day that only one team could win the match.

A cricketer known for his stroke making, Stokes scored his slowest Test century in over 250 balls and then, when the situation demanded, struck a half-century at a strike rate of over 120, finally finishing with 78 off just 57 deliveries to give England a lead of over 300 in the second innings.

With the ball as well, he bowled 11 overs in one spell to extract the prized scalp of Kraigg Brathwaite which opened the door wide open for Broad and company. In the last innings also, his dismissal of the dangerous-looking Jermaine Blackwood with the newly-adopted short ball tactic expedited England's route to victory.

When skipper Joe Root says that we are "in the presence of greatness", it is no hyperbole, for teams would give an arm and a leg for a player of the calibre of Stokes.