Kiwis nominate Ben Stokes as \'New Zealander of the Year\' with Kane Williamson

Mumbai: Ben Stokes played a crucial role to help England lift their first World Cup trophy after 44 years. Ben Stokes amassed 465 runs at an awesome average of 66.42 along with seven scalps to help England become a formidable force in the cricket world.

In the final, Stokes played a crucial knock of 84, and that was enough to declare him as the man of the match. After his brilliance in the final, Kane Williamson’s country nominated Stokes as the 'New Zealander of the Year' along with the Kiwi skipper.

Stokes’ scored 84 which helped England to tie New Zealand’s first innings total of 241/8, and following that he also aided his side to post 15 runs in the super-over. However, New Zealand also scored the same amount of runs, but fell short of one run because of the lower boundary-count.

Besides Stokes and Williamson, the other nominees were Newstalk ZB anchor Simon Barnett, popular ex-league player Manu Vatuvei, and Christchurch mosque attack hero Abdul Aziz, reported the New Zealand Herald

Cameron Bennett, Chief Judge for the New Zealander of the Year awards, said Stokes and Williamson received many nominations after the greatest World Cup final match.

On Stokes Bennett stated, "He might not have been playing for the Black Caps but, having been born in Christchurch, where his parents now live, and with Maori ancestry, there's clearly a few Kiwis about who think we can still claim him."

England Prime Ministerial candidates Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt had already indicated that they would award the 28-year-old all-rounder a knighthood after his superb performance in the World Cup final.

The nominations for the award is slated close on September 15. 10 names will be shortlisted and announced in December, while the winner will be declared on next February.