News | My Sports

Stokes sought to puff cigarette to calm nerves prior to World Cup final Super Over

“Morgan’s Men: The Inside Story of England’s Rise from Cricket World Cup Humiliation to Glory” written by Nick Hoult and Steve James made a surprising revelation about England ace all-rounder Ben Stokes.

The authors claimed that when the two teams prepared for the Super Over, Stokes decided to calm his nerves by opting for a ‘cigarette break’ in a quiet corner of the Lord’s dressing room before he went on to bat again in the Super Over.

The mercurial all-rounder was under immense pressure in the 2019 World Cup final last year where he turned out to be the hero for England with a stellar knock of unbeaten 84 runs in regular time to take the match into the Super Over, wherein he took 8 out of the 15 runs scored by England.

Although England claimed their maiden World Cup trophy after winning a thrilling final against New Zealand at the iconic Lord’s, it’s a humdinger of a final which was decided on the basis of boundary count rule as scores were tied even after the Super Over.

On the first anniversary of that historic triumph, the writers released excerpts from their book, where they said that Stokes was clearly under immense pressure having faced 98 deliveries in the regular time to keep England in the hunt.

“Finding a quiet spot as the frenzy of the Super Over approached was hard in a ground packed out with 27,000 supporters and television cameras following the players from the middle, through the Long Room and up the stairs to the dressing room,” authors Nick Hoult and Steve James wrote and the excerpt has been published by stuff.co.nz.

But Ben Stokes had played at Lord’s many times. He knows every nook and cranny. As Eoin Morgan tries to bring calm to the England dressing room and sort out their tactics, Stokes nips off for a moment of peace.

“He is covered in dirt and sweat. He has batted for two hours and 27 minutes of unbelievable tension. What does Stokes do? He goes to the back of the England dressing room, past the attendant’s little office and into the showers. There he lights up a cigarette and has a few minutes on his own,” they also wrote in the book.

The 29-year-old Stokes was adjudged the Man of the Match for his unbeaten 84, plus eight runs in the Super Over, which helped England claim that momentous victory.

Top Headlines