The social media erupted after Ben Stokes' marvellous match-winning innings in the third Test of Ashes 2019. The southpaw scored a scintillating century and stitched a 76-run partnership with Jack Leach to guide England to a one-wicket victory at the Headingley Cricket Stadium in Leeds.  Stokes' masterclass also reminded the cricket fan about Kusal Perera's carnage in the first Test against South Africa earlier this year. The wicket-keeper batsman had played a similar inning in the similar circumstances to Sri Lanka to a one-wicket victory. Australia vs England Highlights And Cricket Score.

In the first Test at Durban, Sri Lanka were to chase 304 runs in the fourth innings and were reduced to 226-9 by Proteas. Just when the match result seemed a mere formality, Kusal Perera played a blinder and scored 153 runs. The Sri Lankan, also a southpaw like Stokes added 78 runs with Vishwa Fernando for the last wicket, which was again very much like Ben Stokes' effort who shared a 76-run stand with England's No. 11 Jack Leach. Ben Stokes Says He Loves Test Match Cricket, After Playing Memorable Knock in Third Test of Ashes 2019 Against Australia.

The list of similarities doesn't end here. Here's another interesting fact about Ben and Kusal. The two batsmen don the same number on their jerseys. It is No. 55. ICC inducted names and numbers on jerseys from Ashes 2019. However, when Perera played the blinder against the Proteas, he was playing in the plain white jersey. But from Test series against New Zealand, the stylish southpaw donned the 55-number jersey and the similarities between his and Stokes’ innings are drawn.

Talking about Stokes, England's star all-rounder is in the form of his life as the southpaw is playing magnificent knocks, one after the other. In the fourth innings of the match, England were set a target of 359 runs. The hosts were bundled out for mere 67 runs in their first innings, which made the target a massive mountain to climb. However, the 28-year-old had some other ideas and the batsman went on to play one of the best innings in the history of cricket. Stokes started his innings in a very uncharacteristic manner and scored his slowest Test fifty. But after the wickets kept tumbling at the other end, Stokes decided to go after the bowlers and steer his team to a much-needed win.

The five-match Test series is perfectly poised a 1-1 after three Tests. After such a performance, England will go with a lot of confidence in the fourth Test in Manchester. The fourth Ashes Test will get underway on September 4 and both the teams will give their best in order to gain lead in the series.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 26, 2019 12:31 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).