VIDEO | Ben Stokes left amused by his own, effortless no-follow-through six

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk, SportsCafe Editor

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It took Ben Stokes no less than 265 deliveries to showcase the free-flowing, aggressive Stokes that we all know of and admire, but the all-rounder made sure to leave everyone in awe of his batting when he did so. So good was Stokes’ effortless on-drive that he, himself, was amused by the hit.

Not for the first time in the last 18 months or so, Ben Stokes walked in to bat having to hold the English innings together, but the English vice-captain - as has been the case for the past year - seemed unphased by the pressure that was being thrust on him and his side. And after throwing away his starts at the Ageas Bowl, the southpaw, this time around, made sure he made it count. After toiling hard for almost a day and a half, Stokes brought up his 10th Test ton post lunch on Day 2. 

However, despite having scored a century, ‘special strikes’ that we are so accustomed to seeing in Stokes’ knocks were missing in his innings - until the 265th ball he faced. On his 265th ball of the innings, that was bowled by Alzarri Joseph, Stokes produced a moment of magic to remind everyone why he’s one of the best entertainers and gifted talents in our sport.

On the 2nd ball of the 115th over, with Stokes batting on 115* and having been relatively defensive up until that point, Alzarri Joseph landed a full, inswinger towards the pads of Stokes, in an attempt to either trap the southpaw in front of the stumps or dismiss him ‘bowled’. This was a delivery that Joseph had bowled multiple times to Stokes throughout the innings, but this time around, the Englishman decided that he’d had enough.

With the full delivery swinging towards leg-stump, Stokes, with almost no feet movement and follow through, gave the ball a gentle punch, but what followed next left everyone on the field amused. So good was Stokes’ connection that through pure timing, a shot which looked like a simple on-drive remarkably carried all the way over the long-on boundary for a six.

Understandably, the commentators were in awe of it and such was the effortless nature of the strike that Stokes, himself, through his facial expression, suggested that he loved every bit of it. The southpaw held the pose after hitting the shot to further enhance the beauty of the strike. 

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