‘Arise, Sir Ben Stokes’ – Barmy Army flies banner over Edgbaston as tribute to England allrounder

England’s Barmy Army has flown a plane over Edgbaston with a banner hailing allrounder Ben Stokes for his World Cup heroics.

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‘Arise, Sir Ben Stokes – Barmy Army’ – a banner read while England and Australia battled it out on Day 2 of the ongoing Ashes Test that got underway on Thursday.

Stokes top-scored with 84 as England tied the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 final against New Zealand before winning their maiden title in the Super Over trumping their opponents on boundary count.

During the ODI showpiece event, planes carrying political messages hit the headlines on several occasions, irking the International Cricket Council, the game’s global governing body.

The first instance during the tournament was when Pakistan and Afghanistan faced during a round-robin match at Headingley. A week after the incident, more banners which read ‘Justice for Kashmir’ and ‘India stop genocide’ were seen during India-Sri Lanka match, also at Headingley.

Then a small plane carried a banner ‘World must speak up for Balochistan’ during England vs Australia, circling Edgbaston multiple times.
The latest though is an endorsement for Stokes to be knighted for his exploits which handed England their maiden ODI world cup trophy.

He is currently part of the England Playing XI for the ongoing Ashes series where Australia were bowled out for 284 with Steve Smith hitting a memorable century on return to Test cricket after serving a year-long ball-tampering ban.