England all-rounder and Test skipper Ben Stokes made history on Saturday, surpassing New Zealand’s Brendon McCullum to become the player with the most sixes in the history of Test cricket. He reached the milestone during the first Test between England and New Zealand at Mount Maunganui.
On day three of the Test match, in the 49th over of the second innings of his side bowled by NZ’s Scott Kuggeleijn, Stokes hit the third ball for a six over fine leg to surpass McCullum, who is interestingly now England’s Test head coach, to become the leading six-hitter in the longer format. Stokes played an entertaining knock of 31 runs in 33 balls, consisting of three fours and two sixes, before he was dismissed by all-rounder Michael Bracewell, with assistance from wicketkeeper Tom Blundell, who stumped the batter.
In 90 Test matches, Stokes has hit 109 sixes and a total of 5,652 runs with 12 tons and 28 fifties at an average of 36.00. His best score in the format is 258. On the other hand, McCullum has 107 sixes in 101 tests. He made 6,453 runs at an average of 38.64. He has 12 centuries and 31 fifties in the longer format, with a best score of 302.
As for the match, England’s second innings is currently in progress, and they have a lead of 355 runs in the match. They are at 336/8. England took a healthy lead thanks to fifty-run performances from Joe Root (57), Harry Brook (54) and wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes (51).
Earlier, the Kiwis were all out for 306 in their first innings. After being reduced to 83/5, Devon Conway (77) had an 85-run stand for the sixth wicket with Tom Blundell, who went on to smash 138 runs in 181 balls. Blundell became the first-ever wicketkeeper-batter to have a century in a pink-ball Test match. Knocks from Neil Wagner (27) and Kuggeleijn (20) also came in handy for the Kiwis. Ollie Robinson picked up 4/54 in 19 overs. James Anderson took 3/36 in his 16.5 overs. Stuart Broad, Ben Stokes and Jack Leach picked up one wicket each.
With this score, New Zealand was trailing by 19 runs after their first inning. England declared their first innings at 325/9 in just 58.2 overs. Half-centuries from Brook (89) and Ben Duckett (84) were highly crucial for the visitors. Ollie Pope (42) and Chris Foakes (38) also played some useful knocks in the first innings. Wagner was the pick of the bowlers for New Zealand in the first innings, with 4/82 in 16.2 overs. Skipper Tim Southee and Kuggeleijn got two wickets each. Tickner picked up one wicket.
