Four years after he pulled off the Headingly heist, Ben Stokes produced another epic. The England Test captain notched up a century for the ages – the 13th of his career to give his team a solid chance of registering a series-levelling win. Unfortunately, Stokes and England would not be lucky as they were at Leeds 2019. Stokes' annihilating innings came to an end at 155, and soon after Australia completed the formalities to take a 2-0 lead with a 43-run win at Lord's.
England were tottering at 45/4, and then looked unsure at 193/6 when Jonny Bairstow was controversially run-out. But it was almost as if the Bairstow saga ignited a fire within the England captain as he put on a show people at Lord's will tell their grandkids. Coming out to bat at the fall of the fourth wicket, Stokes was on 62 off 126 balls when he switched to beast mode. The next 21 balls yielded 46 runs as Stokes chose violence, more specifically against Cameron Green. The Australia all-rounder was plundered for four boundaries in five balls, and if that wasn't severe enough, Stokes went berserk as he inched towards a century. Showing nerves of steel, Stokes smoked a hat-trick of sixes to get to the three-figure mark.
In no time, Stokes raced to 151 off 197 balls, as Australia entered panic mode. Steve Smith put down a dolly when Stokes was on 114 and the England all-rounder made the former Australia captain pay. The 100-run partnership with Stuart Broad was put up, with Stokes scoring over 90 percent of those runs. Together, they pulled the target down to below 100, and with 70 to win with 4 wickets remaining, Stokes was key. However, just when England needed to carry forward that momentum, disaster struck. Australia kept Stokes quiet by constantly bowling outside off-stump and the stoppage in run flow managed to get under the batter's skin and perished trying to hoick one through the leg side.
{{/usCountry}}In no time, Stokes raced to 151 off 197 balls, as Australia entered panic mode. Steve Smith put down a dolly when Stokes was on 114 and the England all-rounder made the former Australia captain pay. The 100-run partnership with Stuart Broad was put up, with Stokes scoring over 90 percent of those runs. Together, they pulled the target down to below 100, and with 70 to win with 4 wickets remaining, Stokes was key. However, just when England needed to carry forward that momentum, disaster struck. Australia kept Stokes quiet by constantly bowling outside off-stump and the stoppage in run flow managed to get under the batter's skin and perished trying to hoick one through the leg side.
{{/usCountry}}During his innings, Stokes however achieved several key landmarks. His 155 is the first Ashes century by an England captain since Andrew Strauss' 161 at Lord's in 2009. It is also the first hundred by a captain in The Ashes since Smith's 239 in 2017/18, and the first century by a captain in the Ashes in England since Clarke's 187 in 2013 at The Oval.
There's more. Stokes' remarkable 155 stands as the 10th highest individual innings score by an England captain in Ashes, surpassing Strauss' 161 and ranking as the third highest in this century (Vaughan's 166 in Manchester in 2005 is the highest). Moreover, he became only the second England captain to score a hundred in the 4th innings of an Ashes Test after Graham Gooch, who did it twice. Stokes' knock although is the highest.