4 most memorable moments of 2019 in international cricket

#4 Take a bow, Ben Stokes!

Ben Stokes produced an inhuman effort at Headingley to keep England's Ashes hopes alive

Some 38+ years ago, in the summer of '81, Ian Botham and Bob Willis combined forces to produce a miraculous 18-run triumph against Australia at Headingley. It was so improbable that the odds placed on an England victory was 500-1 (though it was later denounced as more of a PR stunt than actual calculations).

Six weeks before Day 4 of the 2019 Headingley Test, England's superman, Ben Stokes played the most important knock of his career, taking his side to their maiden World Cup title.

The venue had witnessed a miracle 38 years ago, and Ben Stokes had delivered one some 6 weeks ago. Yet us mere mortals, fallible to our reasons and logic, hadn't expected what unfolded on August 25, 2019.

The Ashes was on the line, and most had concluded that it's going to Australia (which it eventually did) when England lost their 8th and 9th wicket within a span of 3 deliveries, still needing 72 runs to win. And that's when Ben Stokes decided to showcase the other extreme of his batting - the confident, clean, hard-hitter of the cricket ball. To encapsulate the batting class shown by Ben Stokes, here's a fact - at the end of Day 3, he was at 2 off 50 deliveries and scored his slowest fifty the next morning. He was blocking everything the Aussies were throwing until he was not.

It took Ben Stokes all of 60 minutes, 10.2 overs, and a resistance of 17 balls from his partner, Jack Leach, to accumulate the 72 runs England needed.

His inhuman effort of 135 not out, scoring 11 fours and 8 sixes could easily be the greatest Test knock of the decade, and among the best of all time. He roared as he scored the winning runs, so did the English dressing room. Jack Leach kissed him. And the Headingley crowd erupted into joy!