Watch: Ben Stokes’s Amazing Reaction To Jamie Smith’s Six

England captain Ben Stokes had a memorable day of Test cricket at Edgbaston on Saturday. Facing a precarious situation with his team at 54/5, Stokes joined Joe Root, and together they formed a crucial 115-run partnership, helping stabilize the innings. Stokes was eventually out with the team at 169, which led to another batting collapse as Root was dismissed for 87 with the score at 231/4.

Since then, young wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith and Chris Woakes have put together an unbeaten partnership. Smith reached his fifty with six fours and one six, the latter coming against Alzarri Joseph. Joseph’s short delivery was pulled over deep mid-on by Smith, and the ball cleared the stadium, leading to a stunned reaction from Ben Stokes, who was impressed by the timing of Smith’s shot.

In the second Test, the West Indies were put in to bat first and were dismissed for 282. Despite a solid opening partnership of 76 runs between Kraigg Brathwaite and Mikyle Louis, the West Indies experienced a middle-order collapse. However, Jason Holder (59) and Joshua de Silva (49) contributed important lower-order runs.

England faced early setbacks, losing three quick wickets. Joe Root and Ben Stokes then stabilized the innings, with Root continuing his impressive form. Root scored 87 runs, surpassing Brian Lara’s career tally of 11,953 runs to reach 11,998 runs. He is now approaching Kumar Sangakkara (12,400) and Alastair Cook (12,472). Root also fell just 13 runs short of his 33rd Test century, which would have tied him with Cook for the most Test centuries for England.

At 33, Root is still a strong contender to challenge Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 15,921 Test runs. He trails by approximately 3,000 runs and is expected to perform at his best in the upcoming Ashes series. Root currently leads the run-scoring charts for this series with 291 runs, including a century in the second innings of the Trent Bridge Test. Gus Atkinson tops the wicket-taking charts with 20 wickets this series.

Looking ahead to the 2025 Ashes series, Root is eager to contribute to England’s success. Reflecting on the previous Ashes series in Australia during the challenging Covid period, Root now feels that touring Australia might not have been the best decision.