Ben Stokes says England's second Test win over New Zealand was better than World Cup triumph
- Planet Sport writer
- 15 June 2022
Ben Stokes paid tribute to England's new attacking mindset after a remarkable second Test win over New Zealand.
England's dramatic second Test win over New Zealand was his best win for his country - even better than the World Cup.
England were set 299 to win by New Zealand with less than a day left to play at Trent Bridge.
That came after the Black Caps posted an imposing first innings score of 553 that appeared to have batted England out of the game.
However, Stokes' unbeaten 75 and a quite stunning 136 from just 92 balls from Johnny Bairstow turned the game in England's favour and led them to an incredible victory with five wickets to spare.
It was a record successful run chase at Trent Bridge, and it handed England a series win - their first since Stokes and new coach Brendan McCullum took charge.
Stokes knows better than anyone what it is like to be in the thick of a history-making performance, having dragged England over the line in nerve-shredding fashion in the 2019 World Cup final and then led a record red-ball chase against Australia just a few weeks later in Leeds.
Asked if this was the best yet, Stokes replied: "Yes, it is.
"That blows away Headingley, it blows away Lord's and the World Cup final. It was incredible," he said.
"I'm struggling to find the words for what we witnessed out there, it was just phenomenal. I just can't quite wrap my head around how we've chased 299 with 22 overs left on day five of the Test match when we had to bowl 15 overs this morning.
I actually can’t believe what we’re seeing from Jonny Bairstow pic.twitter.com/fMAgdM9J0I
— Greg James (@gregjames) June 14, 2022
"That is never going to happen again, but if it does, it is probably us who are going to do it.
"With this group of players the sky is the limit, but we could probably go further than that."
Two 500-plus first innings scores would usually make a draw a near-certainty, but Stokes says his side was always going to risk losing for a chance of winning - and they will continue to do it.
"I'll say it quite simply, we were either winning this game or losing it," he said.
"The message just was run into the fear of what the game was rather than stand still or back away from it. When you have the backing of the coach and myself saying what we say, you're not fearing failure.
"This Test match will probably all be about this last day but you don't win Test matches in the last session of day five without all the hard work you put in on the first four."
