By Neto Baptiste
Former legendary West Indies captain and one of the most devastating batsmen in the game’s history, Sir Vivian Richards, believes England’s T20 captain and all-rounder Ben Stokes is a “highly competitive” player and has ranked him highly amongst some of the best English cricketers he’s ever seen.
Speaking on the Good Morning Jojo Sports Show, Sir Viv, whose reign predated the T20 format, admired Stokes for overcoming what could have been a career-ending experience in 2016 when he was hit for four consecutive sixes by West Indies batsman Carlos Brathwaite in the final of the 2016 edition of the tournament.
“He’s certainly up there and especially with what would have happened to him in 2016, we would have seen where his career would have gone.
“What I think more than anything else with Ben Stokes is that he is a highly competitive individual and when you have talent and you can combine the competitiveness, the will and everything else that he brings. Sometimes, you’d have one guy who excels in one particular area and just chill out a little bit in another area, but this guy is at you in every aspect of the game, even in the field,” he added.
England beat Pakistan by five wickets in a pulsating final in Melbourne on Sunday to win the Men’s T20 World Cup and become double world champions.
Chasing 138, England fell to 45 for three and 84 for four amid electric fast bowling.
But, under intense pressure at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, Stokes wrote himself further into the folklore of English cricket by finishing on 52 not out. He was there at the end, as he was in the 2019 50-over World Cup final, as this current white-ball side provided another of English cricket’s greatest wins.
Sir Viv said England showed early signs they would have been a force at the T20 World when they dominated Pakistan at home ahead of the championships.
“England is a powerful team, especially when they went to Pakistan and sort of demolished Pakistan in Pakistan, no overseas team has done that. The Pakistan bowling attack in Pakistan can be deadly and England went there are scored heavily and so that was the sign, that was the shot I think they fired over the bow. I think they left Pakistan believing they can get it done,” he said.
The win, thanks in large part to a superb bowling performance from Sam Curran and Adil Rashid, means England become the first team to hold the men’s 20 and 50-over world titles.
It is also their second T20 world title following victory in the West Indies in 2010.
