In just his third innings upon his return to ODI cricket after a u-turn on his ODI retirement, Ben Stokes once again showed what he brings to the table as he smashed a record-breaking knock of 182 runs against New Zealand on Wednesday at The Oval. This comes as a major boost to England ahead of their World Cup title defence in India.
Ben Stokes’ 182 is now the highest score for England in ODIs, breaking the previous record score of 180 by Jason Roy which the opener set in 2018 against Australia in Melbourne.
This by Stokes is also the second-highest individual ODI score for a batsman batting at number 4 or lower; West Indies legend Sir Viv Richards cracked189* vs England in 1984 in Manchester while batting at No.4.
Player of the match in England’s massive win by 181 runs, Ben Stokes, made a cheeky comment saying he apologized to Jason Roy for breaking his England record.
“I apologized to him [Roy] upstairs,” Stokes said with a smile. “It felt good. Obviously, coming back into the team after a while. I’ve always said it’s nice to contribute towards winning games as well.”
Stokes’ 182 and 96 from opener Dawid Malank propelled England’s total to 368. New Zealand never got going in their chase and were bundled out for 187 with Liam Livingstone and Chris Woakes taking 3 wickets each.
Stokes added: “It was a good wicket. I think the conditions actually changed once the lights came on. I thought the ball was offering a lot. It was pretty obvious by the way that Woakesy and Topley bowled at the top. We spoke about putting New Zealand under a bit more pressure that we did in the first two games especially at the top.”
Malan is a very consistent player: Ben Stokes
There had been some murmurs about Dawid Malan’s position in the World Cup 2023 squad being under threat by Harry Brook. But, Malan now has two back-to-back fifties in the ODI series – scores of 54 and 96 – and had a fifty in the T20I series as well. This seems to have cemented his spot in England’s World Cup squad.
Ben Stokes hailed Malan as a “consistent” player.
“Malan is a very consistent player; he is a very quality player. He comes in and everyone knows what he is about. He was unlucky to strangle one there down the leg side, but enjoyed batting with him. Not only did we take the boundaries, but we managed to rotate the strike as well,” the all-rounder praised Malan.
England lead the 4-ODI series 2-1. The 4th ODI at Lord’s is scheduled for Friday.
