‘Ben Stokes the most competitive bloke…’ – From Kohli to Vaughan, stars hail England captain’s special knock

England captain Ben Stokes gave Australia a real scare in his team’s pursuit of a record chase in the Lord’s Test of Ashes 2023. Going behind, Australia’s 371-run target, Stokes nearly pulled off another miracle, reminding the fans of a special Headingly Test win four years ago. England had their backs against the wall after the departure of the last recognised batter Jonny Bairstow with 178 runs still needed to achieve parity with Australia.

Stokes displayed a huge fight and took on his beast Bazball mode after Bairstow’s controversial dismissal, riding the Aussie bowlers all-round the park. His special 155-run knock attracted huge applause from cricket fans and experts around the globe even though, England fell 43 runs short.

India’s former captain Virat Kohli was of full praise to the English captain and applauded him for being the most competitive bloke he has faced. “I wasn’t joking about calling Ben Stokes the most competitive bloke I’ve played against. Innings of the highest quality but Australia is too good at the moment,” Kohli wrote on Twitter.

The former England captain was also proud of the special Stokes show at Lord’s. “That was as good as it gets … 155 incredible runs,” Vaughan wrote.

Here are some Twitter reactions:

Meanwhile, Australia remain unscathed in the Ashes 2023 with back-to-back wins against the hosts in the five-match contest. Australia’s Steven Smith played a crucial hand in the first innings as he scored 110 in Australia’s 416 in first innings. Ben Duckett replicated Smith’s knock to some extent as he went on to make 98 in England’s reply of 325.

Usman Khawaja then led Australia’s charge in the second innings with a sedate 77 to pile runs for Australia, before some late contributions powered the visitors’ lead past 350. England gave a hard crack at the chase but were jolted by four blows in one session on Day 4 but Ben Stokes always kept the team in the hunt.

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