VIDEO | Ben Stokes gets “luckiest” wicket on “worst ball of his career”

01/25/2019

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There are two kinds of people – one who believes in fate and the other who believes in luck. Fortunately, for the audience present in Kensington Oval, both the kinds were present as they witnessed a first-hand experience of both when Ben Stokes dismissed John Campbell in a terrible ball.

One of the famous scenes from the movie Knight and Day shows Tom Cruise lying on his hospital bed uttering the sentence, “I don't believe in fate. I believe in luck.” While it might have just sounded cool at that time, England all-rounder Stokes realized exactly where the actor was coming from on Thursday.

After England were bundled for a humiliating 77 runs in their first innings, the Three Lions had a seemingly decent recovery as they reduced the hosts to 127/6 in the second innings in just 36 overs. The heroes of the first innings failed to make a mark this time as Moeen Ali and Stokes went through Windies’ top-order effortlessly.

And it is here where the incident happened. Bowling the 20th over of the innings, England desperately needed a stroke of luck after a calamitous batting display when Stokes somehow managed to bowl the worst ball of his career as the commentator later recalls. Bustling in wide at the crease, Stokes’ attempt to bowl a short ball saw the bowler slip in his follow through and tripping down consequently.

The ball had lost all its edge and came to John Campbell like a tomato waiting to be smashed and squashed. Unprepared at his sudden stroke of luck, Campbell tried slapping the ball to the cover and in the process got his timing wrong. Stokes’ slip had made the ball go incredibly slow and Campbell’s bottom edge saw Keaton Jennings getting a lollipop. Both Campbell and Stokes couldn’t believe their lucks.

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