Twitter reacts to Ben Stokes’ wild reverse-sweep gifting Kemar Roach his first wicket in 521 balls

Kemar Roach entered this series as the Windies’ single biggest weapon, but pressure started mounting on him after going wicketless across both the innings in the first Test. And after failing to strike on the first day of the ongoing Old Trafford Test, what started off as a joke became a major cause for concern for the pacer, for whom no luck seemed to be coming his way.

However, after toiling hard for 70 overs in the series, Roach finally got his first breakthrough of the series in his 71st over. And, remarkably, that came in the form of Ben Stokes, who was in the midst of a flawless innings. Batting on 176, keen on pushing the team score, Stokes, who had finally found his hitting zone, attempted a bizarre reverse-sweep of a good length delivery of Roach.

But to the Englishman’s dismay, all he could manage was glove it to the keeper and as Shane Dowrich collected the ball safely, Roach let out a huge sigh of relief, for he had broken his duck that had lasted 521 balls. There were smiles all over the West Indies camp as Stokes walked back to the pavilion, falling 24 runs short of what would have been his second Test double-century.

Here is how Twitter reacted on it: