Ben Stokes' shocking misjudgement leads to LBW as England succumb to series loss against PAK

Ben Stokes once again fell victim to a strange dismissal in the crucial series decider against Pakistan. He was caught LBW off the bowling of Noman Ali after a bizarre decision to leave the ball untouched.

With England looking to stay in the match in Rawalpindi, Pakistan’s spinners were once again causing all sorts of headaches for England’s batters, as the visiting team looked clueless against the spin attack.

With a series of errors in judgements, the most egregious and remarkable was once again the dismissal of then English captain Stokes, who decided to leave a straight one and was out LBW in one of the most straightforward decisions any umpire can be asked to make.

Stokes’s dismissal saw his team fall to 70-5, after which the wickets fell in quick fashion as England collapsed to 112 all-out.

This was the second occasion in this series where Stokes was dismissed in comical fashion. Coming into the team in the second Test in Multan, the English captain had stepped out to try and attack Noman, but completely missed the ball and saw his bat fly from his grip and end up near square leg while he was stumped.

Stokes has been criticised for his poor performances against spin, with the style of his dismissals speaking to his uncertainty while playing the turning ball in Asian conditions. This wicket also illustrated an error in judgement on his behalf, with this delivery certainly not being one that should have been left, even out of the hand.

After England won the opening match of the series in Multan, Pakistan decided to go with spinning tracks and extra spinners in an effort to make it a difficult prospect for the visitors.

In the following 4 innings, Noman Ali took 20 wickets, while Sajid Khan contributed with 19. This included the second Test match, where all 20 English wickets fell to these two bowlers.

Jack Leach, who played all three matches, also contributed with 16 wickets for England. In all, 73 wickets fell to spin in the three matches, which stands as a record for the most wickets taken by spin in a series in Pakistan, and setting the mark for a new high in 54 years.

Pakistan easily chased down 37 to wrap up the series win, handing Shan Masood his first serie victory after a tough start to his captaincy stint.