England’s Ben Stokes is voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award for 2019. He becomes the first cricketer after his predecessor Andrew Flintoff in 2005 to receive the coveted award. The entire England Cricket Board (ECB), England’s players and the Barmy Army conducted a campaign to vote for Stokes, which finally paid off.
However, it was not a jack’s play as limited-overs cricket is not as famous in England as it is in India and other South Asian countries. In fact, the people didn’t even know that a World Cup tournament was being conducted in their country. Only the final of the tournament was made free to air after England made it to the final clash.
Nevertheless, the campaign helped Stokes to lift a coveted award, surpassing Lewis Hamilton who ended up as the runner-up for the second time in a row.
Ben Stokes wins BBC’s SPOTY while England claims the Team of the Year award
It has been an amazing year for the England team and the batting allrounder Ben Stokes. After his victorious knock of unbeaten 84 runs in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final, Stokes gave away another memory for the English cricket fans.
The victory, which England received on the basis of the number of boundaries after the tied Super Over, included Stokes’ ‘Bat of God’. Stokes stole the entire WC tournament with a controversial six in the last over that is still talked about.
On the next ball after the game-changing six, Martin Guptill ran around from deep midwicket and went for the direct hit. The throw hit Stokes’s bat and rolled to the boundary behind the keeper. Stokes promptly put his hands up to indicate that he had not intentionally hit the ball.
Meanwhile, in the third Test of the Ashes 2019 at the Leeds, Stokes pulled off his team out of the danger of losing the game. With 73 runs needed to win for the last wicket, the left-handed English batsman added 74 runs.
Stokes went on smashing the rivalry Australia National Cricket Team and scored a century while bagging the game in England’s kit. The series was, however, draw as either team won two-two Tests while the second one was left drawn.
Apart from Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler breaking the stumps was regarded as the Moment of the Year. Meanwhile, the England World Cup-winning team was named as the Team of the Year.