Six shooter Stokes fires record blast
BEN Stokes returned to action in astonishing fashion for the first time since being named England Test captain with a record-breaking century for Durham in the County Championship match with Worcestershire.
The all-rounder struck 17 sixes, a century before lunch, and 34 off an over from Josh Baker on his way to 161 from just 88 deliveries at New Road.
Stokes beat the record of 16 maximums in a Championship innings, by Gloucestershire’s Andrew Symonds in 1995 and Essex’s Graham Napier in 2011.
His efforts enabled Durham to declare on 580 for six shortly after lunch and then a five-wicket haul from Matthew Potts reduced Worcestershire to 169 for six by the close despite a century stand between in-form pair Brett D’oliveira and Ed Barnard.
Stokes scored just 12 runs from his opening 30 deliveries but then came the sort of hitting that has made him one of cricket’s box-office attractions during the past decade.
His first maximum was a huge hit off Barnard over midwicket and set the tone for the remainder of the morning.
England Under-19 spinner Baker bore the brunt in one over where he was in acute danger of being hit for six sixes. The first five deliveries cleared the ropes, three over long-on, as Stokes’ century came up from 64 balls.
Stokes then launched another six onslaught against Worcestershire’s long-serving talisman Joe Leach.
David Bedingham completed an excellent hundred of his own from just 120 balls, his second in the Championship this summer, as the morning session produced a staggering 210 runs from 27 overs.
Stokes reached 150 by hitting the first ball after the interval for six, and the Championship six record was achieved with a straight hit off D’oliveira. An unforgettable innings finally ended when he holed out to Jack Haynes on the midwicket boundary off D’oliveira.
Anything after that almost felt like an anti-climax but that would be an injustice to Bedingham, whose knock of 135 ended shortly before the declaration when he drilled Baker to long-off.