"Posed like it was the first ball" - Twitter reacts to Josh Hazlewood mimicking Ben Stokes' Headingley celebration after dismissing him

Australian seamer Josh Hazlewood impersonated England skipper Ben Stokes' celebration from the Headingley Test in 2019 after dismissing him for 155 on Day 5 of the second Ashes Test at Lord's.

Chasing an improbable 371 for victory, Stokes smashed the Aussie bowlers all around the park during his blazing knock. Despite England being reduced to 193-6 after losing Jonny Bairstow, Stokes provided the home fans with a glimmer of hope.

The 32-year-old reached his century with a hattrick of sixes just before lunch and put on an incredible partnership of 108 runs with Stuart Broad to propel England to 301-6. However, just as a miraculous victory seemed within reach, Josh Hazlewood removed Ben Stokes, effectively ending English hopes.

The rest of the batting fell away quickly as the hosts lost the second Test by 43 runs to concede a 0-2 lead in the series. While there were several controversial moments during the game, including the overturned catch by Mitchell Starc off Ben Duckett and the Jonny Bairstow dismissal, Hazlewood's celebration upon dismissing Stokes went viral on social media.

The tall fast bowler raised both arms aloft, imitating Stokes' celebration when he smashed the winning runs in the famous third Test at Headingley in 2019. In that game, the England skipper scored a breathtaking 135* to carry the team to a thrilling one-wicket win and level the series at one apiece.

Some also compared Hazlewood's celebrations with former English all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and current Pakistan pacer Shaheen Afridi.

"Did take a lot out of Headingley but unfortunately not to be" - Ben Stokes

England skipper Ben Stokes was visibly disappointed that he could not replicate his heroics from Headingley and lead his side to victory in the second Test.

Despite scoring 20 runs more than his knock in 2019, the task proved to be a bridge too far, even for the champion all-rounder.

However, Stokes remained upbeat about the team's chances of winning the series despite falling into a 0-2 deficit.

Unfortunately for the hosts, history is not on their side, as no England team has even come back from 0-2 down to win an Ashes series.

Despite that, Stokes and his men can take confidence from the fact that before the ongoing Ashes series, England had triumphed in 11 of their 13 previous Tests, including seven out of eight at home.

The third Test of this gripping series gets underway at Headingley on Thursday, July 6.

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Venkatesh has been writing cricket news, listicle and feature articles for Sportskeeda for over a year. He loves cricket because of the diversity of the playing fields and its unparalleled nuances, which no other sport presents. He also enjoys the analytical and quantitative side of the sport, which originates from his MBA degree and 10 years of experience in the IT industry in companies like Infosys, Atos and TCS.

Venkatesh ensures proper research from reliable sources and social media trends to gather information, and adds his own dash of creativity to create insightful content.

He started watching cricket in the late 1990s, having been impressed with South Africa and New Zealand’s gentleman-like attitude. Domestically, he supports the Chennai Super Kings for their ability to bring the best out of their players owing to a friendly and conducive team environment.

He admires three cricketers the most – Brian Lara for his batting style, AB de Villiers for changing the paradigm of batting and MS Dhoni for his unique cerebral approach to field placings and batting. Along with cricket, Venkatesh also enjoys watching and playing tennis and basketball. In his free time, he finds pleasure in singing and watching movies and web series.

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