Ben Stokes Breaks 8-Year-Old World Record During Blistering Knock Of 161 Runs In County Cricket

England Test cricket team’s new captain Ben Stokes returned to county cricket earlier today in the match between Durham and Worcestershire. The all-rounder came out to bat at number six for Durham and played a magnificent knock of 161 runs for his team. He had a fifth-wicket partnership of 220 runs with David Bedingham.

Fans should note that in the 220-run partnership, Stokes aggregated 161 runs off just 88 deliveries. The left-handed batter smacked eight fours and 17 sixes in his incredible knock. He toyed with the left-arm spin bowler Josh Baker, smashing five consecutive sixes in an over bowled by him.

The sixth ball bowled by Baker went for a boundary. So Stokes scored 34 runs off that over. As mentioned ahead, he ended with 161 runs to his name. He broke a world record for the most sixes smashed in an innings by a batter where he scored less than 200 runs in a first-class match.

Stokes whacked 17 maximums and broke a world record jointly held by the trio of Graham Napier, Jesse Ryder and Mukhtar Ali. A Twitter user shared the statistic after the innings from Stokes. Napier, Ryder and Ali smacked 16 sixes each in their innings for Essex, New Zealanders and Rajshahi respectively. The first two instances happened in 2011, with the third being in 2014.

Most sixes in a first-class innings of under 200 runs:
17 – Ben Stokes (Durham) v Worcestershire, today
16 – Graham Napier (Essex) v Surrey, 2011
16 – Jesse Ryder (New Zealanders) v AUS-A, 2011
16 – Mukhtar Ali (Rajshahi) v Chittagong, 2014

Stokes scores 161(88) today.

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— Kausthub Gudipati (@kaustats) May 6, 2022

I’ve had to live with the tag of Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham: Ben Stokes

Recently, ECB named Ben Stokes as their new captain, and in a chat with Sky Sports after the big announcement, the all-rounder mentioned how he has always been compared with the likes of Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham, but he wants to create his identity.

“I’ve had to live with the tag of Andrew Flintoff and Sir Ian Botham since I was 18. But I’ve always maintained that I am never trying to be Flintoff or Botham. I’m Ben Stokes,” said the new England captain.