Ben Stokes was a determined man, when he came out to bat in the first innings of the second Test against West Indies in Manchester. England needed Ben Stokes. They needed him to bat time, score big...and he did just that. He took 118 balls to reach his half century, got to his century off 255 balls. And, when England needed him to accelerate, he scored his third fifty off 46 balls.

Ben Stokes was a determined man, when he came out to bat in the second innings. This time as an opener. England, this time, needed him to go hard from the first ball. England needed quick runs. England needed Ben Stokes, again.

And the all-rounder delivered in style, again.

“Numbers, figures...I don’t really care. The main number for me is how many wins,” Stokes had said earlier during the Test. “I was more buzzing that I faced 300 balls than I was when I got to my hundred, that’s something I never thought I’d be capable of doing.”

The first innings ton was the second-highest of Stokes’s 10 Test hundreds, behind his blistering 258 against South Africa at Cape Town in 2016. But, more significantly, it was also the longest innings of his career, in terms of ball faced in a Test innings.

As was the case with his stunning 135 not out during a remarkable one-wicket win in the third Ashes Test against Australia at Headingley last year, Stokes had the discipline to play himself in against accurate bowling before picking the right moment to up the tempo.

Also read: Ben Stokes adds another special innings to his collection

Having gone to a hundred in, by his standards, a restrained 255 balls, Stokes needed a mere 46 more for the third fifty of his innings as he punished a new ball being deployed by a tiring West Indies pace attack.

(Note: Scroll across or swipe right to view all columns in the tables below.)

Ben Stokes's longest innings in Tests (balls)

Runs BF 4s 6s SR Pos Inns Opposition Ground Start date
176 356 17 2 49.43 5 1 v West Indies Manchester 16 Jul 2020
128 235 13 2 54.46 6 1 v India Rajkot 9 Nov 2016
135* 219 11 8 61.64 5 4 v Australia Leeds 22 Aug 2019
120 214 12 2 56.07 5 1 v South Africa Port Elizabeth 16 Jan 2020
258 198 30 11 130.3 6 1 v South Africa Cape Town 2 Jan 2016

Fast forward to the England second innings: opening the batting for the first time ever in his career in the longest format (Tests or first-class matches), he showed just why he is England’s Mr. Versatile.

Stokes, promoted to open in a quest for quick runs, made 78 not out off 57 balls, including four fours and three sixes, to take England to 129/3 declared in their second innings.

Having batted cautiously before upping the tempo during a brilliant 176 in England’s first innings 469/9 declared, star all-rounder Stokes produced another brilliantly judged batting display.

Ben Stokes in the second Test at Manchester: 

1st inns: 176 off 376 balls, Strike Rate: 49.43. 

2nd inns: 78* off 57 balls, Strike Rate: 136.84.  

Jason Holder, knowing what England wanted to do, spread the field far and wide. But Stokes still took 14 runs off the first over of the day, bowled by Kemar Roach.

The left-handed batsman smashed the fast bowler’s fourth ball past a static long-off for four and next ball took the fielder out of the equation with a huge drive over his head for six.

Next over, Stokes should have been out for 29 when the star all-rounder slogged Shannon Gabriel to deep extra cover only for Campbell to drop a routine catch.

Stokes punished the West Indies for that error, going to fifty with a six off Gabriel that cleared the towering Holder at long-off.

Root was then run out but England vice-captain Stokes continued his assault by powerfully driving Holder for six before elegantly gliding him to four down to third man off successive balls. England, thanks to Stokes, scored 92 runs off 11 overs at the start of the final day’s play.

In the process, Stokes played what was the quickest Test innings of his career when he has faced minimum 50 balls.

(Update: England won the Test by 113 runs after Root declared with West Indies needing 312 runs to win. You can read the day five report here.)

Ben Stokes's fastest innings in Tests

Runs BF 4s 6s SR Pos Inns Opposition Ground
78* 57 4 3 136.84 1 3 v West Indies Manchester
258 198 30 11 130.3 6 1 v South Africa Cape Town
101 92 15 3 109.78 6 3 v New Zealand Lord's
58 54 9 1 107.4 6 2 v South Africa Johannesburg
92 94 15 1 97.87 6 1 v New Zealand Lord's
Criteria: Minimum 50 balls faced

In a breathtaking display of not just power-hitting but determined running between the wickets, Stokes showed he can adapt to any challenge thrown at him.

Only two other instances of openers scoring quicker have been recorded in the history of Test cricket (when facing 50 or more balls).

Best SR by an opener in Tests (50 balls faced)

Player Runs BF 4s/6s SR Inns Opposition Ground Start Date
Jayasuriya 89 56 11/4 158.92 2 v Bangladesh Colombo (SSC) 6 Sep 2001
Gayle  102 72 9/6 141.66 2 v Australia Perth 16 Dec 2009
Stokes 78* 57 4/3 136.84 3 v West Indies Manchester 16 Jul 2020
Shaw 70 53 11/1 132.07 2 v West Indies Hyderabad (Deccan) 12 Oct 2018
Dilshan 92 72 12/1 127.77 1 v New Zealand Galle 18 Aug 2009
Warner 77 62 11/0 124.19 3 v England Birmingham 29 Jul 2015
Parthiv 67* 54 11/1 124.07 4 v England Mohali 26 Nov 2016
Sehwag 83 68 11/4 122.05 4 v England Chennai 11 Dec 2008
G Smith 85 70 10/2 121.42 3 v England Birmingham 24 Jul 2003

Stokes, in the process of his two contrasting knocks, became only the third England batsman after Wally Hammond (3), Alastair Cook (3) and Dennis Compton (2) to score more than 250 runs in one Test match on more than occasion.

Player 1st inns 2nd inns Match total Opposition Ground Start Date
Hammond 336* - 336 v New Zealand Auckland 31 Mar 1933
Hammond 119* 177 296 v Australia Adelaide 1 Feb 1929
Hammond 251 DNB 251 v Australia Sydney 14 Dec 1928
Cook 67 235* 302 v Australia Brisbane 25 Nov 2010
Cook 294 - 294 v India Birmingham 10 Aug 2011
Cook 263 DNB 263 v Pakistan Abu Dhabi 13 Oct 2015
Compton 278 - 278 v Pakistan Nottingham 1 Jul 1954
Compton 147 103* 250 v Australia Adelaide 31 Jan 1947
Stokes 258 26 284 v South Africa Cape Town 2 Jan 2016
Stokes 176 78* 254 v West Indies Manchester 16 Jul 2020

Indeed, after his fourth Test century since the start of 2019 that was followed by a 78*, Stokes is the world’s leading batsman now in terms of runs scored in that period; during which time the left-hander has averaged over 52 – the sign of a world-class batsman.

Top 10 run-scorers in Tests since Jan 2019

Player Mat Inns Runs HS Ave SR 100 50
BA Stokes (ENG) 16 30 1433 176 55.11 56.86 4 6
M Labuschagne (AUS) 12 19 1378 215 72.52 56.75 4 8
JE Root (ENG) 16 30 1136 226 37.86 49.05 2 7
SPD Smith (AUS) 9 14 1028 211 73.42 54.19 3 5
Q de Kock (SA) 11 21 964 129 45.90 70.93 2 8
RJ Burns (ENG) 14 26 911 133 35.03 43.25 2 5
DA Warner (AUS) 10 18 881 335* 55.06 62.79 3 1
MA Agarwal (INDIA) 10 15 856 243 57.06 57.95 3 3
JL Denly (ENG) 15 28 827 94 29.53 39.64 0 6
TWM Latham (NZ) 11 18 773 161 45.47 50.88 3 3

Simply put, one can rhetorically ask: is there anything that Ben Stokes can’t do with the cricket bat in hand?

Statistics courtesy: ESPNCricinfo

(With AFP inputs)