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The accolades have been pouring in for England all-rounder Ben Stokes since his excellent participant of the match show within the second Test towards the West Indies at Old Trafford. England’s talisman went to the top of the Test all-rounder rankings after serving to the hosts sq. the three-match sequence at 1-1 with two completely judged innings — a painstaking 176 and a fast 78 not out — in addition to three key wickets. “Where would England be without him?,” former captain Michael Vaughan advised William Hill.
“If you look at the last two years, every single England win you could argue that Ben Stokes played the pivotal role.”
Meanwhile James Anderson, England’s all-time main Test wicket-taker, promptly hailed Stokes as the best all-rounder he’d played with, surpassing even 2005 Ashes hero Andrew Flintoff, heading into Friday’s decider with the West Indies.
But is it but proper to rank Stokes above Ian Botham, the person whose England wickets document Anderson broke and extensively thought to be the nation’s finest all-rounder of the fashionable period?
Since the beginning of 2019, Stokes has averaged over 55 with the bat and below 29 with the ball in Test cricket.
The 29-year-old’s corresponding Test profession figures, nevertheless, stand at 38.58 and 31.73.
Botham completed his 102-Test profession with a batting common of 33.54 and 383 wickets at 28.40.
Left-handed batsman Stokes already has 10 lots of from 65 Tests.
It shall be a serious shock if, as arguably a extra versatile run-getter, he doesn’t surpass Botham’s tally of 14 earlier than he is completed.
‘Beyond unusual mortals’
But whereas Botham typically took the brand new ball, such is the present depth of England’s bowling sources that Stokes is especially deployed as a fourth seamer.
“Stokes will prove to be the more reliable run-scorer but he will never be able to match Botham the bowler when he was at his lithe peak between 1978 and 1981,” former England off-spinner Vic Marks wrote within the Observer.
“Both impose their will on proceedings in a manner way beyond ordinary mortals,” added Marks, a team-mate of Botham’s at Somerset.
Yet for all his heroics, notably final 12 months when he starred in England’s World Cup triumph and oversaw a staggering one-wicket Test win over Australia at Headingley with a panoramic hundred, Stokes hasn’t fairly reshaped a sequence the best way Botham did the 1981 Ashes.
Having been stripped of the England captaincy, with the hosts 1-Zero down, Botham’s exceptional, attacking centuries at Headingley and Old Trafford, in addition to a surprising spell of 5 wickets for one run at Edgbaston, noticed England to a trio of victories in a 3-1 sequence win.
And regardless of Stokes’ brilliance within the area, he is but to match Botham, who revolutionised the place of second slip by standing yards in entrance of the cordon whereas taking a succession of staggering catches.
Promoted
But Stokes, as Anderson identified, has room for enchancment.
“He’s becoming the best all-rounder that England’s ever had,” Anderson mentioned. “There’s no reason why he can’t go on and be even better.”
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