England all-rounder and stand-in captain for the Southampton Test Ben Stokes became the second-fastest Test Cricketer to reach the milestone of 4000 Test runs and 150 Test wickets under his belt. The New Zealand-born cricketer achieved the historic feat while batting on Day 3 when he scalped Alzarri Joseph’s wicket. Stokes finished the first innings with 4 for 49 in 14 overs on Friday.
Stokes joined former England all-rounder Ian Botham in the club of 4000 Test runs and 150-plus wickets. The ICC congratulated Stokes by mentioning his name along with the greats in the list. Windies great Gary Sobers, former South African cricketer Jacques Kallis, India’s Kapil Dev and ex-New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori are also in the list. Sobers took 63 Tests to reach the milestone, while Stokes completed the feat in 64 Tests.
Earlier, Stokes got opener Kraigg Brathwaite for 65 and picked up the rest three in the final session which began with the dismissal of Windies skipper Jason Holder. His third wicket came in form of Joseph which was his 150th wicket and extended his tally by one more with the dismissal of Shane Dowrich.
West Indies were all out for 318, with the visitors taking a 110-run lead in the first Test.
