'You four-eyed c*nt' - says Ben Stokes to the spectator while walking back to the dressing room

Ace England all-rounder Ben Stokes has learnt about life the hard way. A few years ago, a brawl at a nightclub in Bristol had put his promising career under the scanner and the New Zealand-born cricketer put in a lot of efforts — both with the game and mentally — to get over it. On Friday, the 28-year-old was inviting trouble again while returning to the pavilion after making just two in the first innings of the fourth Test in Johannesburg.

Stokes, who hit a hundred in the last Test in Port Elizabeth to help England hand a crushing innings defeat to the Proteas, edged a delivery from pacer Anrich Nortje to the slip where he was caught by Rassie van der Dussen. The bat was angled towards the mid-on area and the left-hander could not but gift his wicket away. The dismissal saw the visitors losing their fourth wicket at 157 after their openers have them a solid start with a century-run partnership.

Ben Stokes was dejected with his dismissal and just when he was to step on the stairs to the dressing room, he was heard hurling slangs at a kid who told him something. Rather, Stokes challenged him to say the same thing to him out of the ground and in a way threatened the spectator while also calling him a “four-eyed c*nt”.

Earlier, England captain Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat and Zack Crawley (66) and Dom Sibley (44) gave the visitors an ideal start. South Africa felt the absence of their premier pacer Kagiso Rabada who has been handed a one-Test ban after his inappropriate behaviour in the previous Test after bowling Root. Still, the home bowlers managed to take four wickets for 50 runs to rattle England’s middle order. England are leading the four-Test series 2-1 after SA won the first game in Centurion.

Ben Stokes attains career-best all-rounder rank

Ben Stokes might face the law for his behaviour on Friday but he also had something to cheer about on Friday. The cricketer attained his career-best ranking in the all-rounders’ category by moving to the second spot in the ICC’s rankings. West Indies’ Jason Holder is at No.1. In the batters’ category, Stokes is at No.10 while in bowling, he is placed at 29.

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