Ben Stokes has had an incredible summer. He first led England to their maiden ICC Men's Cricket World Cup title, with a performance for the ages in the final, and followed it up by leading their batting charts in the 2019 Ashes.
Tests. His most spectacular contribution came in the third Test at Headingley, where he batted with the tail to lead England to a one-wicket victory with 135*.
That knock has since gone down as an all-time great innings. It helped keep the series alive at 1-1. However, with Australia going on to retain the urn with a 2-2 draw, Stokes is ready to swap all that glory for an "overall win".
"There have been some incredible highs and some moments that I can hardly believe happened, but they did," he said on the final day of the series on Sunday, 15 September. "I will always be able to remember what it was like being out there in the middle when we won the World Cup or won at Headingley. But as good a day as that was, I would still swap that drama at Headingley for an overall Ashes win, though.
"It probably hasn't all sunk in yet, but at some point, I'll be able to look back with some satisfaction at what we managed to achieve as a one-day team and a Test team this year."
With his all-rounder performances over the last four months, Stokes has engraved his name in English cricket's history books. The 28-year-old now has over 6500 international runs and 215 wickets – 906 of those runs came in the two major events, along with 15 wickets.
"All I wanted to do was have an impact in as many games as possible and help England win as many matches as possible this summer," he admitted. "Before England had played a game this summer we knew we had the World Cup and the Ashes ahead of us, and now we're stood here at the end as World Cup winners and with a drawn Ashes series. Obviously we'd like to have won it, but we haven't lost anything."
Stokes began the summer with the terrific one-handed catch against South Africa in England's World Cup opener. It was a sign of things to come. "So many people have been in touch at various times during the summer, and that catch here at the Oval against South Africa feels like such a long time ago, but I guess that is where it all really started," he said.
The success hasn't come easy, for Stokes or England. The hosts went through a slump halfway through the World Cup, and needed two wins out of their last three games against Australia, India and New Zealand – all of whom they had poor World Cup records against – to make it to the top four.
However, they got out of a tight spot after claiming those four points, and ultimately were crowned World Cup champions. That fight was evident in the Test side as well, as they fought back in the third and fifth Ashes Tests to deny Australia a series win. "It hasn't all been plain sailing because we had to dig ourselves out of a hole in the World Cup and then we had to scrap until the very last to get that trophy, but we got it," Stokes said.
"The same in the Ashes where we had to fight all the way to the end to get the draw, but we got it and I think that is something we can be so proud of. When things got tough, we didn't crumble, we stood tall to the end and showed the character in our dressing room."
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