Ben Stokes, England’s captain, made 155 runs in vain as the Australian team won the Ashes Test by 43 runs on the final day. As Virat Kohli showers praise on the skipper after his great score at Lord’s, he calls him the most competitive player he has played against.
After the controversial yet fair dismissal of Jonny Bairstow, Stokes made 9 sixes and multiple fours with his brilliant skills, the hopes of the audience raised to a point where they were reminded of the 2019 match against Australia at Headingley, where he had been victorious.
The perception of Australia’s win was trampled upon by the controversial events that occurred during the game, making the crowd furious. There was no doubt that the wicket was fair yet there was no stopping the widespread feeling of the crowd’s disapproval of the way the Australian team had gone about it for the rest of the day.
After John Barristow made but 10 runs he let a bouncer go through to the keeper and considered the over to be complete. So, with that in mind, he went towards Stokes, leaving the crease. This left the England team at 193-6
“Both umpires were walking towards their opposite position. Jonny left his crease to come out and have the conversation between overs like every batsman does.” Said Stokes “For Australia it was the match-winning moment. Would I want to win a game in that manner? The answer for me is no.”
Even though it was a fair out, the Australian team argued that it was John Barristow himself who had once attempted to dismiss David Warner in a similar manner 4 years ago.
Stokes and Stuart Broad shared a century partnership for the seventh wicket even though Broad only contributed 11 runs to the 100. Ben Stokes got offensive on the bat and passed the century mark but at 108-runs he was dismissed by Hazelwood eventually. Australia’s relief was understandable as they got Stokes out of the field.
Australia finally scored the last three wickets and secured their spot to take a lead of 2-0 in the best of 5 series. Skipper Stokes and his team have to win each of the next matches to have a chance at winning against their oldest rivals.
One more win for Australia will get them the trophy and these incidents have only made the atmosphere and tensions even better for a competitive spark to strike. Stokes admitted that it is going to be ramped up, exciting and perfect to play the next three games to get the urn back. His team is ready and amped up to do things against the narratives to get themselves a better opportunity at winning.
