Vaughan: Stokes without question the best cricketer in the world

England’s Ben Stokes is “without question the best cricketer in the world” at the moment, according to Michael Vaughan.

Stokes’ fine form in an England shirt continued on Monday as he hit a superb 78 not out from 57 balls to inspire his side to victory over the West Indies in the second Test of the series.

Stokes also picked up two wickets with the ball on day five and former captain Vaughan feels England have the world’s best player in their ranks heading into Friday’s third Test against the West Indies.

“Ben Stokes is up to third in the world rankings just for his batting in Test cricket and he is the number one all-rounder in the world now,” he said. “Where would England be without him? If you look at the last two years, every single England win you could argue that Ben Stokes played the pivotal role.

“He is without question the best cricketer in the world, in my opinion. I just don’t see anyone better than him in an all-round contest. If you’re picking a world XI in all three formats, ‘B. Stokes’ would be number one [in each].”

Another England player to catch Vaughan’s eye has been Dominic Sibley, who helped lay the foundations for the victory against the West Indies with a first innings knock of 120 from 372 balls.

“I was impressed with Dom Sibley [in the second Test],” Vaughan said. “I thought he played the right way, his way.

“England have been crying out for that since Alastair Cook left the England side, someone who bats time. And if you’ve got an opening batsman that can face 300 balls, nullify the opposition and wear them down…well, Dom, carry on in that fashion.”

Vaughan felt England had too much for West Indies in the second Test and is predicting another strong display from the home side at Old Trafford.

“England were just too powerful [in the second Test] and I expect that to carry on in the third Test,” Vaughan said. “The only thing that might help the West Indies is there’s a bit of rain around. If they can bat first, as Friday looks a good forecast, then Rahkeem Cornwall the off-spinner, it looks like he may play, so you just never know…

“If the West Indies can get 300-350, we know that this England Test match team can faulter under that kind of pressure. But I just think England have got too much – too much power, too many players now in decent form. If the rain doesn’t come, which [if it did] would obviously help the draw, then I think England will win convincingly once again.”

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