Ben Stokes praised the Durham top 5 for giving him the perfect stage to score a huge 166 on day 2 against Worcestershire to put Durham in complete control of their LV= Insurance County Championship Division 2 clash at New Road.
“It was good fun. I think the game got set up very nicely by our top five. I just had to play the situation and then, once we got our last batting point, it was about trying to get as many runs as we could.
“It is a good wicket, and the game situation was one where hopefully we only have to bat once and then bowl them out twice.
Stokes hit 34 off a Josh Baker over with the first 5 balls being hit for maximums, before the 6th delivery was hit for 4, he added: I knew as I hit the final delivery that it didn’t quite have the legs!
“Hopefully he (Baker) can use the experience. I know Richo (Alan Richardson, Worcestershire Bowling Coach) quite well so I’m sure he will get around him and make sure it doesn’t knock his confidence.
“It is an experience for everyone, and personally, I know what it is like, and just hope he doesn’t look into it too much.
“We weren’t in a situation where if we lost wickets it wouldn’t harm where we were in the game, so it didn’t really matter if I got out.”
Stokes returned to action for the first time since being with England in the West Indies for their 3 match Test series.
“As I said, it was about reading the situation. We were 350 when I came out to bat and we wanted to get that last batting point and then it was about getting as many as we possibly could and not waste any overs because it is pretty obvious this wicket is pretty good, and it is going to be hard to get 20 wickets.
“But Matthew Potts put his hand up again with another great performance, getting five wickets, and to have them six down is a brilliant effort.
Stokes hit 17 sixes breaking the record for the most sixes hit in a County Championship innings.
“Do I know the records I’ve broken? Funny enough, Franky (James Franklin) likes his records up in the dressing room when people achieve them, so he just read them out.
“There are records you don’t know, and people bring them up. You don’t play the game for stuff like that; Stokes added.
Stokes changed his bat three times during the innings, he went on : “The actual reason for that is I’ve had four new bats sent to me and, once I realised I had a good bat, I got the next one brought out to see if that was any good as well, and they were all good.”