Ben Stokes: English vice-captain follows magnificent fielding effort with Jermaine Blackwood wicket

Ben Stokes: England’s vice-captain put on display a magnificent fielding effort before claiming his first wicket on Day 5.

During the fifth day of the second Test of the ongoing West Indies’ tour of England in Manchester, England vice-captain Ben Stokes received full marks for commitment when he chased the ball to the long-off boundary off his own bowling.

It all happened on the first delivery of the 43rd over when West Indies batsman Jermaine Blackwood punched a Stokes delivery down the ground. With no mid-off in place, a determined Stokes swiftly ran behind the ball till the boundary.

Before the ball touched the boundary ropes, Blackwood and non-striker Shamarh Brooks had already run four runs to nullify Stokes’ effort.

However, the bowler didn’t lose hope as he eventually dismissed Blackwood in the same over to make sure that England require only five wickets to win the match in the evening session on the last day of the match.

Bowling from round the wicket, Stokes eventually managed to deceive Blackwood with a short delivery as the 28-year old batsman lobbed a ball in the air which was taken brilliantly by England wicket-keeper Jos Buttler.

In what was his second fourth-innings half-century of the series, Blackwood ended up scoring 55 (88) including seven fours while chasing a 312-run target.

Coming on the back of scoring 254 runs in the match, Stokes dismissed Blackwood to hand another significant advantage to his team.

Ben Stokes dismisses Jermaine Blackwood

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