Ben Stokes hit the highest one-day international score by an England batter on Wednesday. His 182 set up a thumping of New Zealand at The Oval as he sent a warning signal to the champions' World Cup rivals just weeks before they begin their 50-over title campaign in India. Stokes' magnificent innings was just slightly more than England's mammoth 181-run triumph, which placed them 2-1 up in the four-match series ahead of Friday's finale at Lord's.
Stokes achieved the 24th-highest individual total in the history of the 50-over format, surpassing the previous greatest mark by an England player, 180 by Jason Roy against Australia in Melbourne in 2018. The way Stokes built his innings—a calculated start of 13 in 19 balls, followed by an opening of the shoulders and nine sixes and fifteen fours—understood why England was eager to bring Stokes out of ODI retirement before the team's defense of the World Cup title in India, which will begin next month.
Trent Boult's efforts went in vain
Fans reacting to this on social media shared their thoughts as he is one of best all-rounders of the game and his addition to the team is so valuable. They also said that he's going to play a crucial role in the upcoming World Cup which is going to happen in India.
After losing Jonny Bairstow to the first delivery, England was 13-2 after 16 balls when Stokes and Dawid Malan (96 off 95 balls) joined forces and had a 199-run third wicket stand. Boult kept New Zealand in the game with an impressive 5-51 in 9.1 overs, although England were set for a huge total at 348-5 when Stokes was dismissed. But they lost their last five wickets for 20 runs, left-arm quick Boult wrapped up the innings with 11 balls to spare.
Only Glenn Phillips made a significant contribution for the New Zealanders before they were bowled out for 187 after they were reduced to 70-5 by recalled seamer Chris Woakes (3-31). Woakes removed three of the first five batters in the batting order.
Look how fans reacted:
After world cup again he will retire from odi
— Ramakanta Sena (@Ramakantasena) September 13, 2023
World cup year Ben Stokes > Fab 4 pic.twitter.com/zYssYqYxaU
— Shalitha Bandara (@ShalithaCameron) September 13, 2023
this type of inning is not possible in tests because in tests u can have many fielders outside 30 yard circle
— Lazy Elegance🥹 (@Ekans123456) September 13, 2023
The Perfect No.4 , Perfectly Balanced. Can play with a Strike Rate of 100 as well as 200!
— Ankush👊 (@Ankush_ry007) September 13, 2023
Born in New Zealand
— BB&Film 📽️ (@mvnshan) September 13, 2023
Playing against new zealand and became first England player to score 182
Literally this one innings is bigger than Hardik and Jadeja combined in limited overs batting
— Harry Potter (@FromHogwartz) September 13, 2023
Bro thought let's make some history, then retire
— Troll Gabbar (@trollgabbar) September 14, 2023