6,000 runs, 200 wickets – A look at Ben Stokes’ latest Test landmark
Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis are the only other players to have achieved the twin feats.
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Your support makes all the difference.Ben Stokes joined an elite club of all-rounders with the wicket of Kirk McKenzie in England’s first Test against the West Indies.
He is the third player to reach the twin landmarks of 6,000 Test runs and 200 wickets and here, the PA news agency looks at how he compares.
Elite trio
Only Sir Garfield Sobers and Jacques Kallis have previously hit both landmarks and, while their overall numbers are comfortably higher than those of Stokes, his achievement should not be underestimated.
Sobers scored 8,032 runs and took 235 wickets in 93 Tests for the West Indies, 10 fewer than Stokes has played for England, averaging 57.78 with the bat and 34.03 with the ball.
Kallis’ longevity, with 166 Tests under his belt, helped him reach an immense 13,289 Test runs – third among all Test batters behind Sachin Tendulkar (15,921) and Ricky Ponting (13,378) – at an average of 55.37. He added 292 wickets at 32.65.
Stokes too has managed to keep his batting average, though comparatively modest at 35.30, above his bowling average which stood at 31.75 after pinning McKenzie lbw for a duck.
His 6,320 runs include 13 hundreds and 31 fifties, with a memorable best of 258 against South Africa in January 2016.
Recurrent knee problems have limited his effectiveness as a bowler in recent years, but after working hard on his recovery over the winter, he returned with five overs against India at Dharamsala in March – taking one wicket – and removed Mikyle Louis in the first innings and McKenzie in the second at Lord’s.
He has four five-wicket hauls, his best of six for 22 coming against the Windies in 2017, while he reached the landmark having taken exactly 100 wickets in England and the same overseas.
Famous five
Stokes is the fifth Englishman to reach the established all-rounder’s benchmarks of 3,000 runs and 200 wickets in Tests.
Moeen Ali brought up both landmarks in consecutive Ashes Tests last summer to join Sir Ian Botham, Andrew Flintoff and Stuart Broad in the 3,000/200 club.
Broad retired at the end of that series with 604 wickets, just the fifth man ever to reach 600, with an average of 27.68 and best figures of eight for 15. He added 3,662 runs at 18.03, with a best of 169 against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010.
Botham amassed 5,200 runs at 33.54, with 14 centuries and a best of 208, adding 383 wickets at 28.40 to stake a strong claim as statistically his country’s greatest all-rounder. He and Stokes are the only England players in the elite club with a higher average batting than bowling.
Flintoff reached 3,845 runs and 226 wickets, in only 79 Tests compared to Botham’s 102 and with career-bests of 167 runs and five for 58. Moeen’s five centuries include a best of 155 not out against Sri Lanka in 2016, while he also has five five-wicket hauls, his best figures being six for 53 against South Africa in 2017.
Leading the way
Eighteen players in all have reached the 3,000 runs and 200 wickets double and England have more representatives than any other nation, now two clear thanks to Stokes.
New Zealand and India each have three names on the list in Sir Richard Hadlee, Chris Cairns and Daniel Vettori for the Black Caps and Kapil Dev, Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja for India.
South Africa boast Kallis and Shaun Pollock, while five other countries each have one player on the list.
Windies great Sobers was the first to achieve the feat, with Imran Khan following as Pakistan’s only representative – Wasim Akram came up 102 runs short.
Australia spinner Shane Warne, the leading wicket taker in the group and second overall in Test cricket with 708, Sri Lanka seamer Chaminda Vaas and Bangladesh’s former captain Shakib al Hasan complete the list.