Stokes hits record half-century as England beat West Indies in third Test

Ben Stokes clubbed the quickest 50 in England Take a look at historical past (57*) as the house facet swept to victory over West Indies with 10 wickets in hand at Edgbaston on day three of the third Take a look at.

Chasing 81 for victory, Stokes and Ben Duckett (25*) smashed 15 boundaries in 7.2 overs to finish a dominant three-Take a look at collection sweep.

Stokes introduced up his 50 with a giant six within the penultimate over earlier than smashing one other to seal the win. The fast half-century off 27 balls eclipsed Ian Botham’s 28-ball innings in opposition to India in 1981.

At 151-5 at lunch, with a 57-run lead, issues had seemed comparatively secure for West Indies, however Mark Wooden ran by the tail.

A tidy 5-40 from Wooden ensured a modest goal for England to chase within the fourth innings, notably after the elimination of the cussed Kavem Hodge for 55.

The steadiness swung on a vicious spell from Wooden as he took 5 wickets for seven runs in 21 deliveries.

Whereas there was by no means a lot hazard of England throwing away victory from that time, Stokes’ assured innings eliminated any jeopardy.

The fourth innings was a basic of the Bazball style in miniature. From Stokes’ aggressive resolution to maneuver himself up the order rather than the injured Zak Crawley, to the fantastically distributed boundaries struck to all components of the bottom.

Wooden, talking after being named participant of the match, revealed the affect of Jimmy Anderson’s steering in his very good afternoon spell.

He mentioned: “I used to be a bit down on myself at lunchtime. Jimmy had an excellent chat with me, focussing on the ability facet of issues slightly than the end result. That modified my mindset slightly bit. The primary wicket gave me quite a lot of confidence and from there I simply allow them to fly.”

Talking on BBC Take a look at Match Particular, Phil Tufnell had a well-recognized verdict for the vacationers. He mentioned: “The West Indies spluttered into life sometimes. First rate passages of play, however Take a look at cricket is about whether or not you may maintain that session after session they usually could not try this. Very inexperienced, however they’re going to develop from this.”

England coach Brendon McCullum spoke his delight within the new era of gamers rising on this collection victory.

He mentioned: “Whenever you’re operating a cricket group, you are trying to nip and tuck alongside the way in which and there is guys who’ve received skillsets who we thought would work on the worldwide stage and complement what we have already got. That is no slight on those that’ve gone earlier than – however these guys have stood up. We wished to introduce guys who we thought had excessive ceilings and in [Shoaib] Bashir and [Gus] Atkinson I believe we have seen that. I believe this collection has been a step ahead for us.”

With Anderson having , this collection could also be remembered too for the emergence of Atkinson, who completed because the main wicket taker with 22.