BEN CALMS THE NERVES

Stokes steers England to semis

- DEAN WILSON

BEN STOKES was hailed as the calming influence over the England dressing room after adding yet another moment of victorious drama to his incredible career.

With a T20 World Cup semi-final on the line Stokes produced a well-judged, carefully-constructed 42 not out against Sri Lanka to steer his side to a four-wicket win with just two balls remaining.

Never before in a T20 for England had he faced as many as the 36 balls he did here, but boy did he need to as wickets fell regularly at the other end on the way to a target of 142.

It wasn’t quite at the level of the 2019 World Cup final, or the Headingley Ashes Test that followed soon after.