In just 24 balls, England captain Stokes smashed a half-century.
The hosts defeated the West Indies by ten wickets at Edgbaston on Sunday, with Ben Stokes scoring the fastest fifty runs in a Test match by a batsman for England. With more than two days remaining, England achieved a remarkable 3-0 series whitewash of the West Indies, needing just 7.2 overs to finish on 87-0. They had started with a target of 82 to win. After replacing the injured Zak Crawley at the top of the order, England captain Stokes took just 24 balls to reach 50 runs, which included nine fours and a six. He broke Ian Botham’s record of the fastest fifty in a Test match, set in Delhi in 1981, for the fastest fifty balls scored by an England batsman.
Stokes concluded the game at 57 not out with a six-off West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite‘s part-time spin.
Earlier, the West Indies were bowled out for 175 in their second innings by Mark Wood, who finished with a brilliant burst of 5-9 in six overs to finish with 5-40 in 14.
Alick Athanaze, Jason Holder, and the extras shared the next-highest score in the inning, which was 12. The West Indies opener Mikyle Louis scored 57, his first Test fifty, and Kavem Hodge (55) provided some opposition.
The visitors returned to the field at 33-2, still 61 runs behind England’s first-inning 376, in which Jamie Smith made 95, almost missing his first-ever Test century, while Joe Root (87), Chris Woakes (62), and Stokes (54) also scored fifty runs, helping the hosts come back from a collapse of 54-5.
Shoaib Bashir, an off-spinner, and Wood took the first wickets after they combined well in England’s 241-run victory in the second Test at Trent Bridge.
Athanaze missed a sweep and was shortly lbw for 12 against the 20-year-old Bashir.
After losing by an innings and 114 runs in the first Test match of the series at Lord’s, the West Indies were spared the humiliation of losing in the second innings in three Test matches.
Making his debut in that contest, Louis slog-swept Bashir for six runs before clearing the ropes off the spinner once again to finish a maiden Test fifty in style.
The 23-year-old fell soon afterward when paceman Stokes drew him into edging a full-length ball to a second slip.
At Trent Bridge, Hodge scored his first-ever Test century, reaching fifty in just 56 balls with seven fours.
But when Wood tore through the lower order, the West Indies, 151–5 at lunch, crumbled tamely.
Wood destroyed Alzarri Joseph’s stumps when he missed a drive, and Joshua Da Silva was plumb lbw.
Wood executed a great one-two by bowling out Jayden Seales for a duck on the following ball.
Wood finished the second Test with just two wickets and brought the innings to an end when Stokes brilliantly caught Shamar Joseph at second slip.
Stokes‘s attack was triggered by Crawley’s finger injury sustained while losing a slip catch earlier on Sunday.
In the first over of the chase, Stokes hit two consecutive balls from Alzarri Joseph for four runs, with the fast bowler giving up 23 runs in his first two overs.
Stokes then put Jayden Seales on the rise for four and hit Jason Holder back over the tall all-rounder’s head for another boundary.
