Ben Stokes has revealed that it was David Warner’s constant sledging which motivated him to put on a heroic performance at Headingley where he guided England to victory from an impossible situation.
England had lost 9 wickets in the 4th innings of that game with the target still 73 runs away.
It didn’t seem a possible task for England by any stretch of imagination, but Stokes played some mind-blowing strokes during his last wicket partnership with the tail-ender Jack leach and dragged his team over the line.
However, now the all-rounder has come up with an interesting revelation about David Warner which has raised a few eyebrows. Warner is someone who is known for sledging players, but he used to do that before being banned for ball tampering.
After the ball tampering scandal, he seems to have returned as a humble man and he has hardly been seen having a go at any of his opponents on the ground.
But, according to Stokes, it was Warner of old which turned up at Headingley during England’s 4th innings. The swashbuckling Australian just went on and on with his chirping during the entire time Stokes was batting out there.
Ben Stokes insisted if it was some other Australian player and not Warner, he would probably have ignored it, but he couldn’t ignore it because it was coming from Warner.
Stokes reckons it might have been because of his form which wasn’t prolific during the Ashes series that Warner took his frustration out by sledging.
“I muttered ‘Bloody Warner’ a few times as I was getting changed. The more time passed, the more it spurred me on.”, Stokes wrote in his book On Fire.
“Maybe his lack of form in his new guise had persuaded him that he needed to get the bull back?”, Stokes added.
Warner could score only one half century in the 5-match Ashes series played earlier this year in England.
