“Carlos Brathwaite! Carlos Brathwaite, remember the name!” This commentary will haunt England fans and Ben Stokes forever.
It marked the moment Ian Bishop called the infamous World Cup T20 2016 final as Brathwaite smashed Stokes around the park in the last over to seal a win for the West Indies.
England were in a strong position heading into the last over, with the West Indies needing 19 to win and Stokes bowling.
But no one could predict what would happen next as the powerful batter thumped Stokes for four consecutive sixes to seal a remarkable win for the West Indies.
This is one of his lowest moments, given how good Stokes has been for England.
In the context of T20 cricket, it is widely regarded as the most famous over.
At the end, the then-24-year-old collapsed to the floor, close to tears.
Stokes has never been one to hide his emotions and spoke about it shortly after.
He said: “I thought, ‘I’ve just lost the World Cup’. I couldn’t believe it.
“I didn’t know what to do. It took me so long to get back on my feet. I didn’t want to get back up. It was like the whole world had come down on me.
“There weren’t any good things going through my mind. It was just complete devastation.”
A blow like that could easily negatively impact a player’s career, but Stokes is unlike other sportspeople.
After delivering clutch moments for the Test team and the ODI side, he was never going to not redeem himself for that moment in Kolkata.
He had to wait six years for that chance in the T20 World Cup, but it arrived in the 2022 final against Pakistan in Australia.
In a low-scoring showpiece, Stokes scored an unbeaten 52 and hit the winning runs to make England champions of the world in both limited-overs formats.
The current England Test captain came in at number four with England 32-2.
He played a patient innings and saw a few partners come and go, but crucially, Stokes remained calm.
The Durham all-rounder was there for 81 minutes and only hit six boundaries, but he did enough to win and add another moment to his collection of top England performances.
After the final, England limited-overs captain Jos Buttler lauded Stokes.
He said: “We’re immensely lucky to have him, he’s one of the great players of English cricket and can be in the conversation [to be regarded as England’s greatest cricketer ever].
“He always stands up in the biggest moments. He can take a lot of pressure on his shoulders and perform. With him in the middle, you know you’ve got a good chance.
“He’s a true match-winner who’s been there in those scenarios time and time again. He has a lot of know-how.
“It certainly wasn’t his most fluent innings, he probably didn’t time the ball as well as he can, but we knew he was never going to go down without a fight. He was going to stand up, be there at the end.”
Although many would argue he had redeemed himself well before, this marked the moment he went from losing the T20 World Cup to winning it.
And given he’s not playing in this year’s World Cup, England will need to find another hero if they are to retain their title.
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News Summary:
- Ben Stokes went from World Cup devastation in infamous over to England hero with victory in Australia
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