England captain Ben Stokes who has played a big role in revolutionising Test cricket of late got a massive Ashes record in his name on Day 3 of fifth Test. Stokes broke Kevin Pietersen's record of most sixes in a single Ashes series, a record that was created in the iconic 2005 edition of cricket's oldest rivalry.
In the 26th over England's second innings, Stokes took on Josh Hazlewood. The Australian pacer bowled a short ball and Stokes played the pull shot. The thick top-edge went towards long leg fielder Mitchell Starc. The left-arm pacer looked clueless about the boundary ropes and made a mess of what could have been an easy catch. Starc spilled it over the boundary and Stokes surpassed Pietersen’s tally of sixes in a single Ashes edition.
Earlier, in the Ashes 2019, Stokes had hit a total of 13 sixes in the series. In the 2005 edition, Andrew Flintoff had hit 11 sixes as well. Stokes also equalled West Indies batter Shimron Hetmyer's tally of sixes in a single Test series. Hetmyer is second on the list of most sixes in a Test series as he hit 15 maximums against Bangladesh in 2018-19 series. The top spot is occupied by India captain Rohit Sharma who hit 10 sixes against South Africa in 2019-20 home series.
Stokes is currently the leading six-hitter in both Ashes and in Test cricket history. He has 39 sixes in Ashes and 124 sixes overall.
Stokes promoted himself up the order and came out to bat at no.3. He shared a 61-run partnership for the second wicket with Zak Crawley followed by a 73-run partnership for the second wicket with Joe Root. The left-handed batter scored 42 runs from 67 balls including three fours and one six.
He was dismissed by Australian off-spinner Todd Murphy. He went for a big hit but the ball hit the toe-end of the bat and skipper Pat Cummins took an easy catch. In the previous innings, Stokes got out bowled to Starc as the ball moved just away to beat the bat and crash into the stumps.
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