Two words from Ben Stokes said it all after he was dismissed against Pakistan in the craziest of circumstances.
Stokes made his return from a hamstring injury which he sustained during the Hundred in August and kept him out of the first Test.
Stokes was dismissed in rather wild circumstances against PakistanGetty
With England at 88/6 and their hopes for winning the second Test fading rapidly, Stokes and Brydon Carse looked to stem the flow of wickets.
The pair slowly chipped away at Pakistan’s target of 297, although it always seemed a tough ask with just four wickets in hand.
But the mountain to climb soon became insurmountable once Stokes departed.
Facing Pakistani spinner Noman Ali, Stokes danced down the wicket in an attempt to smack his rival over the boundary rope.
But just as Stokes went to go whack, his bat slipped right out of his gloves and flew high into the air.
With Stokes well out of his crease, Mohammad Rizwan secured what could be the easiest stumping of his life.
Stokes immediately knew he was doomed once his bat soared through the air, as the stump mic picked up his instant two-word reaction: “Oh no.”
In an attempt to explain the absurd scenes, former England skipper Nasser Hussein pointed out how the conditions played a part in Stokes’ wicket.
“His bat went flying out of his hand,” Hussein said on Sky Sports.
“Your gloves in this heat get very sweaty and his bat just went flying to deep mid-wicket. He ended up without a bat.
Stokes’ bat went flying against PakistanGetty
“Rizwan, as ever, does brilliantly. Look at the bat go, way towards mid-wicket. Rizwan, not interested in the bat, interested in the ball.”
Although Stokes’ knock of 37 from 36 balls provided an immediate injection of runs, his exit left England on 125/7.
Unfortunately for the visitors, the tail did not wag as they hit just 19 more runs for three wickets to be all out for 144 as Pakistan won by 152 runs.
With Stokes’ bat gone, Rizwan had an easy stumping to make
Stokes ultimately top scored for England in the second innings as the visitors’ top four of Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Joe Root combined for just 43 runs.
Carse was England’s second-top run scorer with 27.
Pakistan’s victory levels the series at 1-1 ahead of the third and final Test, which begins on October 24 in Rawalpindi.