Ben Stokes comes agonisingly close to hitting six sixes in an over in record-breaking 161

Ben Stokes has fallen agonisingly short of hitting six sixes in an over in his first innings since being named England’s Test captain. Stokes hit five sixes in a row off Worcestershire spinner Josh Baker in Durham’s County Championship match at New Road in a record-breaking knock of 161 from 88 deliveries.

He brought up his century off just 64 balls with the fifth six. However, after raising his bat, he could only hit a four off the final ball of the over.

Stokes was officially named England’s Test skipper last week. New managing director of cricket Rob Key said the all-rounder was the outstanding candidate to replace Joe Root.

And he has returned to action in astonishing style. Stokes put his feet up for the first day of the match in Worcester on Thursday as Durham piled on the runs.

But he was brought to the middle early on day two following the dismissal of captain Scott Borthwick. Stokes ticked along at just under a run a ball for the first 40 or so deliveries of his innings.

But he then set about taking apart the Worcestershire attack. And it was 18-year-old Baker on the end of a blistering performance.

In the 117th over of the innings, with Durham past 450, Stokes launched five sixes in a row. After celebrating an astonishing hundred, he attempted to launch another to make history.

But his straight drive just did not have enough on it to get over the boundary, so he had to settle for 34 off the over. He then hit the next two balls he faced from Joe Leach for six and has sped past team-mate David Bedingham, who reached a ton 45 minutes earlier.

Stokes went to lunch on 147 not out with eight fours and an incredible 15 sixes to his name. He added a further 14 runs before being caught off Brett D’Oliveira. His 17 sixes broke a record for the most maximums in a first-class innings in England.

Durham announced on their official Twitter feed that Stokes’ century was the quickest by any player for the club in first-class cricket. Statistician Andrew Samson also tweeted the previous instances of cricketers in the County Championship hitting five sixes in a row.

Arthur Wellard did it twice for Somerset in 1936 and 1938, with Glenn Chapple doing it once for Lancashire in 1993. Stokes achieved the feat himself for Durham in 2011 and has backed his effort up again 11 years later.

Stokes is preparing to take full charge of the England Test team this summer after being announced as captain at the end of last month. On the appointment, Stokes said: “I am honoured to be given the chance to lead the England Test team.

“This is a real privilege, and I’m excited about getting started this summer.”