Former South African skipper AB de Villiers took to Twitter to express his thoughts after watching Ben Stokes' unbeaten knock of 135 against Australia on Sunday. 

AB posted an appreciation tweet hailing the batting brilliance of the English all-rounder by saying, "That was pretty special! @benstokes38, that was ridiculous! Well done. Ashes alive and well." 

That was pretty special! @benstokes38 , that was ridiculous! Well done. Ashes alive and well.

— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) August 25, 2019

Ben Stokes secured England a thrilling one-wicket win in the third test match of the Ashes series on Sunday at Headingley. 

The hosts finally leveled the score in the series against the Aussies at 1-1, with the home side successfully chasing down a record target of 359 in an eventful match.  

England started the day hoping to prevent Australia from retaining the Ashes. England were 286-9 and still needed 73 more runs from the target score.

Australia only needed a win to ensure a series defeat was out of the equation but things did not turn out the way they hoped for.

England skipper Joe Root said, "Ben Stokes is a freak, he's incredible. The message at the start was to just keep believing. If we had two people out there still breathing then we have a chance."
"After Stokes got to 60, 70 he looked like he wasn't going to get out. To win a game on your own from there is just amazing. He does have recent experience of doing it. Just incredible to watch unfold."

With just one wicket in hand, England's 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup final hero Ben Stokes took on the responsibility and smashed eight sixes all corners of the ground in Leeds to get his side close enough to their highest-ever test match second-innings total to win.

During the post-match interview, the English all-rounder spoke about how he never gave up in his head and stayed focused. 

"I never gave up. When Jack Leach came in it was pretty clear what I had to do. I told him five and one, I'd take five balls and give him one."

"Leachy is our super-nightwatchman so I backed him, knowing what we had to do. I couldn't watch at the end. I couldn't watch the balls going down," Stokes added.