(Cricket News) Ben Stokes will soon become the 16th player to play in 100 Tests for England and the 76th player overall. The England Test captain’s path through the format is highlighted by these important figures:
- When Stokes took the field on Thursday, he became the 76th player to appear in 100 Test matches overall. He would also become the 16th player to feature in 100 Tests or more for England, the most for a nation, followed by 15 by Australia.
Players with 100 or more Test caps (by country)
15 – England (Stokes is set to be the 16th)
15 – Australia
13 – India
9 – West Indies
8 – South Africa
6 – Sri Lanka
5 – Pakistan
4 – New Zealand
- The only other cricketer with 5000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests is Kapil Dev, who took 64 catches as a fielder. Stokes, who currently has 197 Test wickets, is three wickets away from joining Sobers and Kallis to complete a double of 6000 runs and 200 wickets in the format. Five players, including Stokes, have achieved the triple of 5,000 runs, 100 wickets, and 100 catches in Test cricket to date.
Double of 5,000 runs and 100 wickets in Tests
Jacques Kallis (ICC/SA)
Ian Botham (ENG)
Carl Hooper (WI)
Garfield Sobers (WI)
Ben Stokes (ENG)
Kapil Dev (IND)
- Three of the 32 test-match accounts of players who have amassed a double of 1,000 runs and 30 wickets against a team include Stokes, who has done so against Australia (1562 runs at 36.32, 41 wickets at 38.95), South Africa (1177 runs at 45.26, 39 wickets at 26.35), and the West Indies (1147 runs at 47.79, 38 wickets at 26.81). He is the only player who has done so against South Africa other than Wally Hammond.
- In their first Test series, players have achieved the double of a century and five wickets; Stokes is one of two players to have done so for England, the other being Leonard Braund, who accomplished it in the Ashes 1901/02 Down Under. Stokes scored 120 in the fourth innings of the third Test at the WACA, Perth, and bagged 6/99 in the first innings of the fifth Test in Sydney.
- Stokes’s total of 128 sixes during his Test career is the highest in the format, with Brendon McCullum coming in second with 107. Tim Southee is the next highest current cricketer with 86, followed by Angelo Mathews (85) and Rohit Sharma (77). Adam Gilchrist became the first player to reach 100 sixes in Test cricket in his 92nd Test, while McCullum reached that milestone in his 98th. Stokes reached that milestone in just 82 Tests.
- The highest individual score from a No. 6 in Test cricket is 258 by Stokes against South Africa in Cape Town in 2016. The only other higher score from a No. 6 or lower in the format is 270 (from a No. 7) by Don Bradman against England in Melbourne in 1936/37.
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