England Squad announced for Test Match against Ireland

Stokes makes history to lead England into a 2-1 lead in their ODI series against Australia.

England came into the third One Day International on level terms with New Zealand, and it was an opportunity for them to take the lead for the first time in the series. It would also be a game that would see Ben Stokes achieve another milestone to make history for England in ODI cricket.

Rewind to the first One Day International on Friday 8th September, England took on New Zealand at Sophia Gardens. It was a tight and tense affair, with the margin of the win for either team set to be a narrow one. Unfortunately for England, they found themselves on the wrong side of the score line at the end of the game, losing by 8 wickets, and New Zealand took a 1-0 lead.

England made up for this opening ODI defeat with a win at The Ageas Bowl in Southampton, levelling the series at 1-1. Unlike the first, this match ended up being less tense for those of an England persuasion as some impressive performances from the likes of Liam Livingstone, Sam Curran and Moeen Ali guided England to an emphatic 79-run victory.

The iconic Oval was the venue for the third ODI on Wednesday, and if England were able to take the lead in the series with a win here, this would put them in the driving seat for the overall series victory in the fourth ODI, which takes place on Friday at Lord’s.

In the end, England put in an excellent and emphatic performance that put New Zealand to the sword. England not only won by an incredible margin of 181 runs, this third ODI also saw Ben Stokes make England Cricket history.

The previous record by Jason Roy had stood for 5 years. Roy managed 180 runs against Australia at Melbourne back in 2018.

Stokes and Roy take the top two spots for the highest individual One Day International innings for England. Roy is followed by Alex Hales with 171 (vs. Pakistan, 2016), Robin Smith with 167 (vs. Australia, 1993), Jos Buttler (vs. Netherlands, 2022) and Jason Roy again (vs. Sri Lanka, 2016) – both with 162.

By the time proceedings had come to a close, Stokes recorded no less than 182 runs off 124 balls. This is a record, as it is the highest score that any English Cricket player has scored in the history of the One Day International format. He came to the crease with his team thirteen for two, and by the time he made way, England’s score was 348 for 6, which effectively confirmed the win.

Not only did Stokes make history, he also formed a formidable partnership with Dawid Malan. It became a 199-run partnership to help England on their way to victory.

As mentioned previously, with England now in a 2 – 1 lead, they have a great chance to secure the ODI series victory at Lord’s on Friday. Going by the performances in the last two ODIs, particularly the third, fans ought to be optimistic that their side can get the better of New Zealand once again.

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