England all-rounder Ben Stokes has shared that it was David Warner’s constant poking that helped him on further scoring the unbeaten 135 in the Ashes Headingly Test which saw his side winning in a nail-biting game.
“I had extra personal motivation due to some things that were said to me out on the field on the evening of day three when I was trying to get through to stumps,” Stokes revealed in Daily Mirror. “A few of the Aussies were being quite chirpy, but in particular David Warner seemed to have his heart set on disrupting me.”
“He just wouldn’t shut up for most of my time out there. I could accept it from just about any other opponent. Truly. Not from him, though. The changed man he was adamant he’d become, the one that hardly said boo to a goose and even went as far as claiming he had been re-nicknamed ‘Humble’ by his Australia teammates, had disappeared. Maybe his lack of form in his new guise had persuaded him that he needed to get the bull back,” he added.
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Ben Stokes helped England to snatch the victory from the jaws of defeat with a patient knock as England equalled the five-match series by 1-1. England were all out for 67 in the first innings and were 286-9 in the second and still they were needed 73 more runs to win with a target of 359. No. 11 player Jack Leach walked out to bat and joined Ben Stokes in the middle to share a historic partnership and took England over the finish line.
“Although he’d enjoyed a prolific World Cup campaign, he had struggled with the bat at the start of the Ashes and was perhaps turning to his old ways to try to get the best out of himself. The nice-guy act had done nothing for his runs column,” he expressed.
“I muttered ‘Bloody Warner’ a few times as I was getting changed. The more time passed, the more it spurred me on. All kinds of ideas of what I might say to him at the end of the game went through my head. In the end, I vowed to do nothing other than shake his hand and say ‘Well done’ if I could manufacture the situation,” he shared.
“You always shake the hands of every member of the opposing team at the end of a match. But this one would give me the greatest sense of satisfaction,” Ben Stokes concluded.
