The incident brought back memories of the 2019 World Cup final.
In the 2019 World Cup final at the same venue, Martin Guptill’s throw had accidentally hit the outstretched bat of a diving Stokes and went to the boundary. In total, the England team was awarded six runs – four for the resulting boundary and two for the batsmen’s running between the wickets.
Akin to that incident, the ball deflected Stokes’ bat in the first Test at Lord’s but no run was scored this time around.
The newly-appointed England Test captain was batting alongside his predecessor Joe Root, who nailed a pull to mid-wicket and called for a quick single. Stokes responded but had to quickly change his mind on seeing the fielder diving to his right.
While Stokes managed to get back to the crease just in the nick of time, the throw once again hit his bat and the ball went to the wide of mid-off. However, both the England batters decided not to take a run.
The incident brought back the memories of the 2019 World Cup final. Stokes, Root and several Kiwi players had smiles on their faces after the ball deflected off the England captain’s bat. In fact, Root put his hands up as if to imitate Stokes' reaction from the historic final.
Here’s the video: