Ben Stokes admitted his first reaction to hitting England’s highest one-day score was an apology to the man whose record he broke, Jason Roy.
Stokes smashed 182 as England romped to victory in the third ODI against New Zealand, with the entire touring side mustering just five more runs between them chasing 369.
For the 32-year-old Test captain the explosive innings was an thrilling vindication of his decision to come out of retirement and return to the fold ahead of next month’s World Cup defence in India.
As he smashed nine sixes and 15 fours over the course of 124 deliveries it was almost hard to imagine England going into battle without him.
But while head coach Matthew Mott and captain Jos Buttler must have been thanking their lucky stars the middle-order match-winner was back in business, Stokes himself made a beeline for Roy.
The opening batter missed out on a planned comeback after a being laid low by back spasms, confining him to a watching brief as Stokes leapfrogged the 180 Roy made in Melbourne in 2018.
After more than five years in top spot, Roy was passing over the crown and smiled broadly as he clapped his team-mate’s achievement.
“I just apologised to Jase upstairs,” Stokes said.
“He said ‘well done’ and I said ‘sorry’. I don’t think there was too much to it. He’ll be pretty happy he’s seen one of his team-mates, who he’s played a lot of cricket with, take that off him.
“But individual stuff like that I’m not too fussed about. I didn’t really know I’d done it until the bloke on the tannoy started announcing it and then I got out next ball. It was his fault!”
While Stokes was not inclined to talk up his own efforts, he did admit to a sense of satisfaction at spending an extended period in the middle and setting his side on the path to a handsome victory.
The winning margin of 181, one run less than his own personal score, said the rest.
“It’s good to come back in after a while out and put a big contribution into us winning the game,” he said.
“I think today was good for me, to get familiarity again with how 50-over cricket goes. To get that game awareness, game smartness.
“There was a couple of times I had to check myself – I looked up and there was still 23, 24 overs left. That’s how one-day cricket goes, you can find yourself going pretty well and you want to keep going but you look up at the scoreboard and have to drag yourself back.”
Buttler was happy with the way England responded to an early double from Trent Boult, who dismissed Jonny Bairstow with the opening ball of the day and followed up by dismissing Joe Root cheaply.
“We were tested losing two early wickets but it’s exactly what I wanted us to do, take more risks, be more on the front foot,” he told BBC’s Test Match Special.
“Ben’s played a few good ones, but to make the highest one-day score for England, that was amazing.”
The game was over as a contest long before the end came, Chris Woakes taking three for 31 in a clinical new-ball burst alongside Reece Topley. The pair made up amply for the continued absence of Mark Wood and Adil Rashid from the bowling ranks, shutting down the Kiwis response early on.
“I was absolutely delighted with that, I haven’t seen as good new-ball bowling in white-ball cricket for a while,” said Buttler.
“It was a fantastic opening spell.”
The series concludes at Lord’s on Friday before the rivals meet again in the World Cup curtain-raiser in Ahmedabad just over two weeks later.
With that contest in mind, Kiwi coach Gary Stead noted drily: “I don’t mind watching Ben Stokes. I’d rather he scored his runs now than on October 5.”
'Job not done' for Springboks after All Blacks triumph, says Kolisi
South Africa captain Siya Kolisi warned his team the job is far from done despite them rallying for a thrilling victory over New Zealand in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The Springboks secured a 31-27 win over the All Blacks at Ellis Park, coming from behind with two late tries from Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Grant Williams.
The victory hauled South Africa onto 14 points in the Championship standings as they bid to end New Zealand's four-year stranglehold on the title, but Kolisi says there is still work to be done.
Addressing the capacity crowd in his post-match interview, Kolisi said: "We play for a lot but you people are our number one motivation.
"We appreciate you every single day. Please don't stop. When times are tough, please keep supporting us. We cannot do it without you.
"We respect the All Blacks. No matter what people say about them, when they need to turn up, they turn up. We believed in ourselves, we didn't panic, and we did what we wanted.
"They were catching us on the exit. After the first try in the second half, we picked it up. I'm really proud of the boys but the job is not done."
All Blacks captain Scott Barrett, meanwhile, was proud of his team-mates' efforts but admitted they had just fallen short of putting together a complete performance.
"Well done to the Springboks, it showed the class team they are," he said. "We weren't quite good enough. We were good for 62 minutes and it's an 80-minute game.
"There were two key moments after kick-offs where we couldn't quite get out of our half and they punished us. It was a huge effort, we're certainly proud, but it was just not quite to be.
"We'll regroup pretty quickly. Some guys have played here for the first time. It's intense and we'll have to be better next week."
South Africa host New Zealand again in Cape Town next week, while Australia go to Argentina for their round-three matchup.
Record-breaking Root edges England closer to Sri Lanka victory
Joe Root hit a record-breaking century as England edged closer to sealing their series victory over Sri Lanka at Lord's.
Root, who equalled Alastair Cook's record during the first innings of the second Test, made 103 from 111 balls for his 34th Test ton.
England resumed on 25-1 at the start of day three, with Root leading the way for the hosts and the crowd rose as one when a sweeping four completed his landmark century.
He helped his nation set their opponents a target of 483 after they were 251 all out.
As the light faded over Lord's, so too did Sri Lanka's momentum in their record-attempting chase, with Gus Atkinson and Olly Stone claiming Nishan Madushka and Pathum Nissanka respectively.
Play was eventually halted due to bad light, and called off to be resumed on Sunday with the tourists at 53-2 with Dimuth Karunaratne (23) and Prabath Jayasuriya (three) at the crease.
Data Debrief: Root revels on record-breaking day
Day three of the second Test belonged to Root, whose century was also his quickest in Test cricket.
Adding to his 143 in England's first innings, he registered two tons in a match for the first time, while becoming only the fourth player to achieve that feat in a Test at Lord's.
Root also joins Brian Lara and Sachin Tendulkar in scoring 5,000 Test runs in two different decades, while closing the gap on Cook's all-time England tally (12,472) to just 95.
If that was not enough for him, he also took the catches for both of Sri Lanka's wickets, making him the first England player to reach 200 in Test cricket.
Last Hurrah: Dwayne Bravo to call time on CPL career after this year's edition
Former West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo says this year’s edition of the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) will be his last hurrah as he announced his retirement from the tournament on Saturday.
Bravo, who represents the Trinbago Knight Riders, made the revelation on his Instagram account hours ahead of the franchise’s opening contest against St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in Basseterre, scheduled for 7:00pm.
“It's been a great journey, and I'm looking forward to playing my final professional tournament in front of my Caribbean people," Bravo said in his post.
“TKR is the place where everything started for me and will end with my team,” he added.
The 40-year-old’s post all but indicates the end of a decorated professional career, as he retired from international cricket in 2021 after the T20 World Cup and also announced his retirement from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a year later after being part of four title-winning Chennai Super Kings campaigns.
Bravo, known for his flair and skillful batting and bowling, is currently the CPL’s highest wicket-taker with 128 scalps in 103 games at an average of 22.40 and economy rate of 8.69.
In fact, Bravo is the leading wicket-taker in all T20s, with 630 scalps in 578 matches. He has also scored 6,970 runs with the bat.
No doubt the electrifying Trinidad and Tobago stalwart will go down as one of T20's early legends, having played seven World Cups in the format, winning two titles, as well as over 15 franchise league titles. He is the first bowler to get to 500 T20 wickets.
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