Kyle denied final shot
The big Durham all-rounder twice came to England’s rescue to put his team in a winning position.
He first produced a mesmeric spell of reverseswing bowling, taking three wickets for nine runs in six overs, to help dismiss the hosts for 248.
That gave England a valuable first-innings lead.
But they were in danger of throwing away that advantage – slipping to 46-4 and then 62-5 – before Stokes hit back with a masterful innings of 85 on a turning pitch that helped Alastair Cook’s men finish the day on 228-8.
Given the conditions, England now have what already appears a match-winning lead of 273.
But they would have been in danger of slipping to their first-ever defeat in nine Tests against Bangladesh had it not been for Stokes.
“We were a bit shocked by how many wickets we lost,” said Stokes.
“That’s probably the toughest conditions I’ve had batting in international cricket, especially going in with all the men around the bat and the ball spinning as much as it was.
“But it’s good I managed to get through that and put the team in a good position.
“It’s definitely my most mature performance. I didn’t want to give my wicket away and made sure if I was going to get out it was a good ball.
“I tried to put the foot on the gas towards the end to try and get the lead up. I’m happy with how it went.”
Stokes was eventually trapped lbw by Shakib Al Hasan, the left-arm spinner who finished the day with figures of 5-79.
By then, though, England were already 242 ahead on 197-7 after Stokes and Jonny Bairstow produced a match-changing partnership of 127.
The pair love batting together, as shown during their mammoth KYLE EDMUND missed out on a first ATP final as France’s No.3 seed Richard Gasquet fought back to win their semi-final at the European Open.
Brit Edmund, 21, led by a set and 4-2 but could not convert his lead into victory as Gasquet came through 3-6 7-5 6-2 in Antwerp.
He is still set to break into the top 40 for the first time on 45-run Monday. Britain’s Johanna Konta, meanwhile, missed out on a place at the season-ending WTA Finals after Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Australian Daria Gavrilova 6-2 6-1 to defend her Kremlin Cup title in Moscow yesterday.
The result spelt heartbreak for Konta, 25, who held the final spot but will now drop down to first reserve.