Leeds : England all-rounder and Test captain Ben Stokes is now the first Test cricketer to have hit 100 sixes and have taken 100 wickets.
The star English all-rounder achieved this landmark during the third and final Test at Headingley in Leeds. In the first innings, Stokes played a short knock of 18 in 13 balls, consisting of two fours and a six. The six helped him reach a century of sixes in the longest format of the game.
In 81 Tests, Stokes has already taken 177 wickets at an average of 32.67 and economy rate of 3.29.
Coming to the match, England currently trails by 65 runs in the Test match.
After bundling out New Zealand for 329, England batsman had absolutely no idea what was about to hit them. They were left defenceless as pacer Trent Boult destroyed its top order, dismissing Alex Lees (4), Zak Crawley (6) and Ollie Pope (5) within the first seven overs. It reduced England to 17/3.
Star batter Joe Root (5) could not do much either. Bairstow and captain Ben Stokes tried to rebuild the innings for England, but Stokes fell for 18 to pacer Neil Wagner, followed by wicketkeeper Ben Foakes for a duck three balls later. England had sunk to 55/6.
After that, Bairstow and Wagner took control of England’s innings. Bairstow continued his good show from the second Test, getting his tenth Test ton in such scary circumstances. He also completed his 5,000 Test runs.
Overton was also impressive with the bat in his debut outing, smashing a half-century, helping England end their Day two in a better condition, though still behind the Kiwis in the match. England ended at 264/6 at the end of the second day.
Earlier batting first, NZ were bundled out for 329. Mitchell (109) and Blundell (55) played top knocks that powered Kiwis to such a solid score.
Jack Leach was the star for England with the ball, taking 5/100 with his spin bowling. Stuart Broad also took 3/62. (A
