Stokes redeems himself six years after West Indies nightmare

MELBOURNE : Ben Stokes earned redemption six years after his horror show at the 2016 World Cup final with an unbeaten half-century that secured England's second global title in T20 with victory over Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday.

While famous for his heroics at the 50-over World Cup final against New Zealand in 2019, Stokes's previous T20 decider ended in ignominy as Carlos Brathwaite smashed him for four successive sixes in a final over onslaught to fire West Indies to victory.

While not "eaten up" by the memory, Stokes spoke of using it as motivation in the lead-up to this World Cup and he duly delivered on Sunday as he scored 52 not out, a personal best in T20Is, to guide England to victory with six balls to spare.

It was neither the 31-year-old all-rounder's fastest knock nor his most fluent as batting partners fell away, and he had to grind his way through some testing fast bowling.

But at the end of the night, Stokes shifted up the gears and smashed a string of boundaries in tandem with Moeen Ali (19) to ensure England would chase down a modest target of 138.

Stokes had already carved his place in English cricket folklore three years ago with his unbeaten 84 at Lord's in the nerve-jangling final win over New Zealand at the 2019 World Cup.

If not the greatest English player of all-time, Stokes showed again on Sunday that he is certainly among them, his captain Jos Buttler said.

"He always stands up in the biggest moments," Buttler told reporters. "He can take a lot of pressure on his shoulders and perform. Absolutely with him in the middle, you know you have a good chance. (I'm) just so proud of him.

"He's been on an amazing journey."

HARD WORK

While England team mate Sam Curran was player-of-the-match,