England Test skipper Ben Stokes on Sunday (June 18) gave another glimpse of his smart cricketing brain as he plotted Australia opener Usman Khawaja’s dismissal in the ongoing Ashes 2023 opener at Edgbaston.

Khawaja was batting on 141 and the hosts desperately needed his wicket to expose Australia’s tail. It was at this moment Stokes pulled off a never-seen-before field trap to dismiss Khawaja.

Before Ollie Robinson came in to bowl his third delivery in the 113th over, Stokes lined up Ollie Pope, Harry Brook and James Anderson as three catching covers while Joe Root, Stuart Broad and the England captain himself mirrored them on the off side.

The field set-up looked like a reverse umbrella and the ploy left former England skipper Kevin Pietersen bewildered.

“Have you ever seen a field like that?” Pietersen said on Sky Sports. “I haven’t.”

As it turned out, Khawaja fell for the trap. The southpaw came down the track to play a yorker from Robinson on the offside but failed to make contact and ended up getting bowled.

“The plan has worked,” England’s World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan said on-air. “Excellent captaincy from Ben Stokes … making something happen when there’s nothing happening in the game. Brilliant from Stokes.”

Khawaja's dismissal triggered a tail-end collapse as Australia’s first-innings folded for 386, conceding a meagre 7-run lead to England.

At the close of play on Day 3, the hosts were at 28/2, extending their second innings lead to 35 runs with Ollie Pope (0*) and Joe Root (0*) unbeaten in the middle.