ENG vs WI | Twitter reacts to Stokes spreading his arms and eyes in disbelief after Brook stunner at slip

ꦅ‌On a cloudy London day, luck went England's way as Ben Stokes won the toss at Lord's and chose to bowl first on a relatively slow track with plenty of promise for swing and seam movement. West Indies stood their ground bravely for nearly an hour before the introduction of debutant Gus Atkinson into the attack brought two quick wickets and dried up the scoring rate significantly. However, fellow debutant Mikyle Louis continued to look good in tricky conditions, even as the now injury-free Ben Stokes put up a bowling clinic in tandem with Atkinson, and it eventually took a moment of magic to dismiss the opener for 27.

💦On the second ball of the 28th over, Stokes steamed in from over the wicket and angled a length ball onto the stumps that straightened just enough after hitting the deck to square up Louis. The batter had committed to a front-foot defence and the Duke flew off the outside edge towards the slip cordon but seemed destined to sneak through the gap between third slip and a fine gully. However, at the last moment, Brook at slip put in a perfectly timed dive low to his right with his right arm extended beyond the torso to grab onto the ball travelling at ankle height, with his knuckles grazing the surface.

ꩵStokes was in sheer disbelief at the attempt and took a moment to realize the catch had been taken, reacting by flaring his eyes wide open and opening his arms even wider as he ran towards Brook with a huge grin on his face. The celebration was ironically reminiscent of Stuart Broad's famous outburst when Stokes himself had pulled off one such catch in the 2015 Trent Bridge Ashes Test, something Twitterati quickly pointed out.

What a grab!

Not a partime bowler anymore

Years passed

Great one

Got him

Outsatnding catch

Happy to witness

Three down

Great one