England all-rounder Ben Stokes on Thursday joined the company of West Indies great Garry Sobers and South Africa’s legendary all-rounder Jacques Kallis to become the third player and first England player to secure a double of 6,000-plus runs and 200-plus wickets in Test cricket. Stokes accomplished this feat against West Indies in the first Test of the three-match series at Lord’s. Dismissing batter Kirk McKenzie in his first over, Stokes got his 200th Test wicket. In 103 Tests, he has taken 200 wickets so far. Also with the bat, he has scored 6,320 runs at an average of 35.30, with 13 centuries and 31 fifties. His best score is 258.
Meanwhile, Sobers has (8,032 runs and 235 wickets in 93 Tests) and Kallis has (13,289 runs and 292 wickets in 166 Tests).
Also, he is the sixth overall and first-ever England player to secure a double of 10,000 runs and 300 wickets in international cricket. In 260 international matches, Stokes has scored 10,368 runs at an average of 35.75, with 18 centuries and 56 fifties, with the best score of 258. He also has completed his 300 wickets in international cricket.
West Indies all-rounder Carl Hooper, Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya, Kallis, Pakistan’s Shahid Afridi and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib al Hasan are other players to have scored 10,000 runs and taken 300 or more wickets in Tests.
Coming to the match, England won the toss and elected to field first. West Indies lost wickets at regular intervals and never really got a breather. Mikyle Louis (27 in 58 balls), Kavem Hodge (24 in 48 balls) and Alick Athanaze (23 in 56 balls) did the bulk of scoring as Windies was skittled out for 121 runs in 41.4 overs.
In their first innings, England gained a 250-run lead and they were bundled out for 371 runs, with half-centuries coming from Zak Crawley (76 in 89 balls), debutant wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith (70 in 119 balls), Joe Root (68 in 114 balls), Ollie Pope (57 in 74 balls) and Harry Brook (50 in 64 balls).
Jayden Seales (4/77) was the pick of the bowlers for West Indies. Jason Holder and Gudakesh Motie also took two wickets.
Teams:
West Indies (Playing XI): Kraigg Brathwaite(c), Mikyle Louis, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Joshua Da Silva(w), Jason Holder, Gudakesh Motie, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Jayden Seales
England (Playing XI): Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes(c), Jamie Smith(w), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, James Anderson.
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