Ben Stokes’s last bet… Opener in the last innings of the farewell test, England needs 270 runs to win on the fifth day

New Delhi. The fourth day of this exciting test match being played in Christchurch was completely in the name of drama, emotion and ‘baseball’. By the end of the fourth day’s play, England had scored 103 runs in their second innings, losing 4 wickets in 15 overs. Now on the fifth and last day of the match, England needs 270 runs to register a historic win, while New Zealand will have to take 6 wickets to win the match. Currently on the field, experienced Joe Root is unbeaten on 9 runs and Emilio Gay is unbeaten on 6 runs.

This match is not just a test match, but also the beginning of the end of a golden chapter of English cricket. England’s charismatic captain Ben Stokes has announced his retirement from Test cricket after this match. To make his last Test memorable forever, Stokes took a decision in this innings which both surprised and thrilled the fans. In his farewell innings, he took the field not as an all-rounder or middle-order batsman, but as an opener. In his last innings, he fully lived the ‘baseball’ style and attacked the New Zealand bowlers fiercely.

While opening, Ben Stokes faced only 20 balls and scored 30 runs at a stormy strike rate of 150. His courageous innings included 2 brilliant fours and 2 skyscraper sixes. However, his explosive innings was ended by Zachary Foulkes when Daryl Mitchell took a brilliant catch. Even though Stokes could not play a big innings, his bold decision to enter as an opener and his fearless batting won the hearts of every spectator present on the field.

Ben Duckett, who came to start the innings with Stokes, also showed good rhythm. Duckett played a quick inning of 36 runs in 42 balls with the help of 6 fours. Ben Sears showed him the way to the pavilion by getting him caught out by Daryl Mitchell. The openers gave the team a fast start while chasing the target of 103 runs, but after this, New Zealand’s young bowler Zachary Faulks shook the England middle order with his killer bowling.

Jacob Bethel, who came to bat at number three, could not even open his account and was out LBW on the ball of Zachary Foulkes after playing just 4 balls. After this, aggressive batsman Harry Brook, who came to the crease, attacked the Kiwi bowlers as soon as he came. Brook scored 21 runs in just 9 balls with the help of 3 fours and 1 six, but he too could not take his innings forward and was caught by Nathan Smith off the ball of Faulks. In this way, Foulkes made the Kiwi team return to the match by taking three important wickets of England with his dangerous bowling.

Talking about New Zealand’s bowling, Zachary Faulks was the most successful bowler. He took 3 wickets for 42 runs in his 5.5 overs and pushed the England batsmen on the back foot. Apart from him, Ben Sears bowled only 1 over and achieved 1 success by giving 3 runs. Although Nathan Smith tried to bowl economically, he gave away 48 runs in his 7 overs and did not get any wicket. Mitchell Santner gave 7 runs in 1 over, while William O’Rourke could bowl only 1 ball, in which he gave 2 runs.

Now the entire responsibility of the match rests on the shoulders of experienced Joe Root and young Emilio Gay on the fifth day. Root is playing after scoring 9 runs in 11 balls with 1 four, while Emilio Gay has scored 6 runs in 4 balls with the help of 1 four. After this, England is left to bat in the form of Jamie Smith, Gus Atkinson, Joffra Archer, Josh Tong and Shoaib Bashir. The fifth day is going to be very exciting. Will Joe Root be able to stay at the crease and lead England to another seemingly impossible victory? Or will the Kiwi bowlers spoil the fun of Ben Stokes’s farewell by taking the remaining 6 wickets? It will be interesting to see, because England will try their best to bid farewell to their captain Stokes with victory.