Fortunes favour the brave and Ben Stokes would certainly with it, as he rode his luck to score his sixth Test century and guide England to a respectable total in the first innings of the second Test at Headingley.
The England star got two reprieves with the first life arriving when he was batting on just nine when Kraigg Brathwaite couldn’t grab the chance at second slip off Kemar Roach before Shannon Gabriel dropped a straight forward one when the left-handed batsman was two shy of his century.
Speaking after the day’s play, Stokes sounded delighted to have made the most of the reprieves and pull England out from a precarious position.
“It’s always nice to [take advantage],” said Stokes. “You get some luck every now and again and to do well, you need that on your side. Getting dropped, you put it to the back of your mind. Another day they hold it, and you’re walking off. I don’t think you can take too much from the dropped chances.”
England was reeling at 71 for four when Stokes arrived at the crease and barring those two dropped catches; the all-rounder played a spectacular knock to bring his hundred off just 122 balls with the help of 17 boundaries before getting out two balls later on 100. His knock helped England to post 258.
“I found it quite hard to start with,” he said. “I had to change my normal approach. I walked down the wicket, went deep in my crease just to create any length or line changes. I got a couple away and then thought it’s a slow wicket, if I play my attacking shots, it needs to be 100 per cent rather than half-hearted and potentially spoon to point or into the slips.”
“When you get into a rhythm like I got out there, you keep going with it. I used my depth of crease more than I usually do. I managed to turn some of their balls into full balls which I managed to drive and hit through the leg-side,” he added.
Stokes further praised West Indies’ fast-bowling. Kemar Roach and recalled Shannon Gabriel bowled brilliantly, taking four wickets each but a total of four dropped chances – which cost the visitors 142 runs overall – let England off the hook.
“I thought their seam bowling unit bowled a lot better than they did at Edgbaston. They made it hard work for us. The conditions were more in the bowler’s favour. There was always a bit of seam movement and every now and then the ball swung,” Stokes said.
When asked whether the 258 runs on the board was a good total, Stokes said:
“As a team, we said it’s not one of our best days with the bat. But you never know if it’s a good score until the West Indies’ innings. It’s 260 more than we had this morning. It’s how we respond tomorrow and the areas we bowl to hopefully create a few chances.”