During the third day of the first Test match of England’s tour of New Zealand 2023 in Mount Maunganui, England captain Ben Stokes surpassed head coach and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum in the list of most sixes in Test cricket.
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It all happened on the third delivery of the 49th over when Stokes pulled a Scott Kuggeleijn delivery over fine leg for his 108th six in Test cricket. With the right-arm bowler bowling from round the wicket, all Stokes did was effortlessly guide the ball with the angle.
Having earned instant applause from McCullum himself for achieving a world record, Stokes celebrated in an apt manner by hitting the next ball for a six in an identical manner.
Coming in to bat at No. 8 in the 42nd over, Stokes didn’t let the run rate drop on the back of scoring a freewheeling 31 (33) with the help of three fours and two sixes at Bay Oval today.
Adam Gilchrist’s sarcasm-filled tweet on Ben Stokes hitting most sixes in Test cricket
Former Australia wicket-keeper batter Adam Gilchrist took to social media platform Twitter to sarcastically provide a label to the first three batters in the list of most sixes in Test matches.
Interestingly, Gilchrist (100) himself is at the third position behind Stokes (109) and McCullum (107). Gilchrist, known to be a trendsetter with respect to attacking batting across formats, has taken the least number of innings to hit 100 Test sixes. Furthermore, no other batter has been able to achieve this landmark in this format.
Yet another hard-hitting English batting spectacle witnessed them scoring 374 in 73.5 overs to put forward a daunting 394-run target for the home team. Succumbing to the pressure, New Zealand scored 63/5 in 23 overs at Stumps, Day 3, to hand a gargantuan advantage to the visitors. If not for a miraculous turnaround on the part of the Kiwis, expect England to gain a 1-0 lead in this two-match series on Sunday.
