With his knock of 141 runs against India on the fourth day of Fourth Test of Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy, England captain Ben Stokes became only the fourth England cricketer to have scored a century and taken a five-wicket haul in the same Test match. Stokes, who had claimed five wickets for 72 runs during India’s first innings in the match, matched the feat achieved by Tony Greig, Ian Botham and Gus Atkinson for England previously. Former England captain Michael Atherton has showered praise on the England captain and has called him ‘one of England’s greatest all-rounders’.
“Huge cheer for Ben Stokes. All-round excellence from one of England’s greatest all-rounders. Five wickets in this match and now a Test hundred too, his first for a couple of years, since the 2023 Ashes against Australia at Lord’s – so it’s been quite a wait, and you can see what it means to him. He’s the leading wicket-taker in the series, and won Player of the Match in the last Test at Lord’s. You just feel that his all-round game is coming together now,” Atherton told Sky Sports.
Stokes, who also completed 7,000 runs in Test cricket during his knock, also became only the third player in Test cricket history to have scored 7,000 runs and taken 200 wickets. Stokes now has a total of 220 wickets in 115 Tests apart from his tally of 7,032 runs. Only Jacques Kallis with 13,829 runs and 292 wickets apart from Garry Sobers with 8,032 runs and 235 wickets are in the illustrious list of all-rounders with a minimum of 7,000 runs and 200 wickets in Test cricket history apart from Stokes. Saturday’s century was also Stokes’ first Test century in two years with his last test hundred coming against Australia at Lord’s in the 2023 Ashes. Former England captain Alastair Cook termed Stokes’ return to form as ‘Great for England’. “It is great to see Ben Stokes back in the runs, his ability to read the situations and change gears, you wouldn’t want anyone else to play in this situation. He is very good at that. It’s great for England that he’s found his rhythm,” Cook told BBC Sport.
England opener Zack Crawley too had talked about Stokes’ effort with the ball during India’s first innings. “And the way he gets that away movement from the right-handers, that zip, which is as much as anyone in the world. He gets that bounce and he’s a proper wicket-taker, and he can make things happen. That was certainly the case when I first came into the side back then, and he seems to have got that back now, which is a phenomenal effort considering the injuries he’s had. And, well, he’s a little bit older now, so a phenomenal effort,” Crawley had told reporters after the second day’s play.
