Watch Ben Stokes accidentally launch bat further than ball as England move to brink of victory in Third Test vs Pakistan
BEN STOKES hilariously sent his bet flying during the third test against Pakistan.
The England captain was on strike when he went for a big shot but got it all wrong, accidentally launching the bat FURTHER than the ball.
Stokes took his shot, but instead of the ball sailing towards the boundary, it was his bat as it was flung metres into the air after he lost his grip on the handle.
The bat flew past the leg-side umpire and out of the inner circle.
Stokes, for a second, stood in shock, watching the bat fly before quickly sprinting for a cheeky run while the Pakistan players were distracted.
Fans were left in hysterics at what they saw, with one tweeting: “I think Stokes might have a second life as a javelin thrower…”
A second wrote: “Sure Messi just won a world cup, but can he launch a bat 40 yards like Ben Stokes…?”
A third added: “Not a bad innings considering Stokes nearly got a boundary with his own bat”.
A fourth said: “Ben Stokes accidentally throws his bat further than I can throw a ball”.
England are on the brink of victory after Rehan Ahmed picked up his first five-wicket haul in Test cricket.
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Ahmed’s historic dream debut continued when he ripped through Pakistan’s middle and lower-order as the home team collapsed from 164-3 to 216 all out.
It meant England needed 167 to complete a 3-0 series clean sweep and Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett raced to 87-0 in 11 overs.
Crawley was then lbw and, in a move England like to call using a ‘Nighthawk’, Ahmed was sent in at No.3 to have a swing. He promptly smashed his first ball down the ground for four and struck another boundary before missing a hoick and being bowled for ten.
England finished on 112-2 with Ben Duckett reaching a half-century from 38 balls. They need another 55 runs for victory.
Leicestershire leggie Ahmed was already England’s youngest-ever men’s cricketer at the age of 18 years and 126 days.
And now he has become the youngest from any country to take five wickets on his Test debut – beating Aussie Pat Cummins’ age of 18 years and 196 days.
Even Ahmed would admit that he was gifted some of his wickets by poor Pakistani batting but nobody in the England dressing-room will care about that. And he bowled plenty good balls, too.
He was presented with the match ball by Joe Root and could scarcely suppress his smile as he led the England team off the field. His dad Naeem was cheering up in the stand.
Ahmed made the big breakthrough when Babar Azam pulled a long hop straight to mid-wicket and ended a fourth-wicket partnership of 110 with Saud Shakeel.
Pakistan went into freefall after that.
Ahmed produced a perfectly-pitched leg break that found the edge of Mohammad Rizwan’s bat and then Shakeel top-edged a sweep to square leg.
Root chimed in with the wicket of Faheem Ashraf – caught behind by Ben Foakes aiming an ugly heave – and Pakistan had lost four wickets for 14 runs.
Agha Salman and Nauman Ali put on 30 runs for the eighth wicket but then Mark Wood had Nauman lbw on review.
Rehan captured the final two wickets when Mohammad Wasim slogged to mid-off and Salman top-edged a sweep. Ahmed finished with 5-48 and he didn’t bowl at all before lunch on day three as Stokes decided to hold him back.
In the morning, Jack Leach took three wickets for no run in six balls.
Pakistan, resuming at 21-0, reached 53-0 when Shan Masood under-edged an attempted reverse sweep and the ball went back onto his stumps.
Azhar Ali, who is retiring after this match, was bowled by a beauty for a duck as the ball drifted in, turned and struck his off stump.
He received handshakes from England’s fielders and a guard of honour of raised bats from his Pakistan team-mates when he returned to the boundary. But it was little compensation for the big blob against his name.
Leach struck again when opener Abdullah Shafique was lbw and Pakistan had lost their first three wickets for one run.
Leach became the second England bowler in men’s Tests to dismiss the opposition’s top three without the help of a fielder (that is – bowled, lbw or hit wicket) since 1965.
If England win, it will be their first Test victory without either James Anderson or Stuart Broad since 2007 – before Broad had made his debut.