Ben Stokes joins the 100 Test club this week in the more unlikely surroundings of Rajkot as England get back to business in India following a week off.
A headline-grabbing career has brought more peaks than troughs and, here, the PA news agency looks at the England captain’s best Test moments ahead of his landmark appearance.
120 v Australia – Perth, December 2013
101 v New Zealand – Lord’s, May 2015
Six for 36 v Australia – Trent Bridge, August 2015
135 not out v Australia – Headingley, August 2019
That angle ?#OnThisDay last year pic.twitter.com/uxpADAsqLl
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 25, 2020
Stokes’ magnum opus came six weeks after his scarcely-credible heroics in the 2019 World Cup and a year and a week after being acquitted of affray in a Bristol court case that threatened to overshadow his career. After England were skittled for a miserly 67, Stokes, perhaps seeking to atone for his loose shot, first bowled himself into the ground to take three for 56 then roused the hosts in a then national record chase of 359. Watchful at first before exploding with just number 11 Jack Leach for company, Stokes kept the Ashes alive and sent Headingley into raptures with a knock for the ages.
103 v South Africa – Emirates Old Trafford, August 2022
