Ben Stokes finished his Test career with 15 Player of the Match awards from 122 appearances, a conversion rate of one every 8.1 Tests. That places him third all-time among players with double-digit tallies, behind only Jacques Kallis and Muttiah Muralitharan, and ahead of every other name usually mentioned in the same breath, Root and Botham included. It’s a distinction built on speed of accumulation, not just raw volume of awards collected across a long career, and it holds up under close scrutiny.

 

A Final Tally Shaped by a Shortened Career

 

Stokes retired in June 2026 with 7,273 Test runs and 252 wickets, a genuine 7,000-run, 250-wicket double shared with only Jacques Kallis in the format’s history, a combination no other all-rounder has come close to matching. His 15 Player of the Match awards from 122 Tests give him a rate of one every 8.1 matches, a number built almost entirely through match-defining all-round contributions rather than accumulated longevity across a long, slow-burning career.

 

Player

Country

Tests Played

POTM Awards

Conversion Rate (1 per N Tests)

Jacques Kallis

South Africa

166

23

7.2

Muttiah Muralitharan

Sri Lanka

133

19

7.0

Kumar Sangakkara

Sri Lanka

134

16

8.4

Ian Botham

England

102

12

8.5

Ben Stokes

England

122

15

8.1

Ricky Ponting

Australia

168

16

10.5

Joe Root

England

166

15

11.1

Sachin Tendulkar

India

200

14

14.3

Virat Kohli

India

123

10

12.3

AB de Villiers

South Africa

114

5

22.8

 

Every figure above reflects each player’s fully completed Test career, giving a settled, final basis for comparison rather than a moving target.

 

Ben Stokes Test POTM Record vs Virat Kohli

 

Set side by side, the gap is stark. Kohli finished with 10 awards from 123 Tests, a rate of one every 12.3 matches, while Stokes needed almost exactly the same number of appearances, 122, to collect 15.

 

That’s five more standout performances from essentially the same number of chances. Kohli’s overall Test career carries enormous weight through sheer volume of runs and years of captaincy influence, but on this specific measure of match-defining individual impact, the comparison favours Stokes clearly rather than narrowly.

 

Comparing the Rate to Root, Ponting and Tendulkar

 

Joe Root, Stokes’ long-time teammate, matched him exactly on raw totals with 15 awards, but it took Root 166 Tests to get there against Stokes’ 122. That’s a rate of one every 11.1 matches for Root compared with 8.1 for Stokes, a meaningful gap once framed as speed rather than volume.

 

Ricky Ponting managed 16 awards in 168 Tests, a rate of 10.5. Sachin Tendulkar needed 200 Tests to collect 14, the slowest rate of any player on this list at one every 14.3 matches, despite a run tally that dwarfs almost everyone else on it. Against all three, Stokes converted appearances into standout performances considerably faster.

 

The Two Legends Still Ahead in the Count

 

Two names sit clearly above Stokes on pure conversion speed. Jacques Kallis won 23 awards in 166 Tests, one every 7.2 matches, the best rate of any player with ten or more awards. Muttiah Muralitharan trails him narrowly at 19 awards in 133 Tests, a rate of 7.0.

 

Kumar Sangakkara’s 16 awards in 134 Tests, one every 8.4, also edges ahead of Stokes by a fraction, though the gap is narrow enough to argue either way. Ian Botham, the England great Stokes is most often compared to, actually sits just behind Stokes now, his 12 awards in 102 Tests working out to one every 8.5 matches against Stokes’ 8.1, a reversal of the usual assumption about who holds the edge.

 

The Real Case for an All-Rounder’s Legacy

 

The honest version of this argument isn’t that Stokes stands alone at the top of the conversion-rate list. Kallis and Muralitharan remain clearly ahead of him, and Sangakkara sits close behind those two as well.

 

What the rate does show is that Stokes’ 15 awards were compressed into a shorter Test career than almost any of his direct rivals for the greatest modern all-rounder tag, Root included, a genuinely rare feat. For a genuine all-rounder rather than a specialist batter or bowler, that puts the Ben Stokes Test POTM record vs Virat Kohli comparison, and the wider field around it, into real perspective.

 

Where do you rank Stokes among Test cricket’s great all-rounders? Drop your list in the comments.

 

FAQs

 

How many Player of the Match awards did Ben Stokes win in Test cricket?

Stokes finished his Test career with 15 Player of the Match awards from 122 matches. That’s a conversion rate of one award every 8.1 Tests, the third-best rate among double-digit tallies.

 

Who has the most Player of the Match awards in Test cricket history?

Jacques Kallis holds the record with 23 awards in 166 Tests, a rate of one every 7.2 matches. Muttiah Muralitharan is second with 19 awards in 133 Tests, a rate of 7.0.

 

How many Test POTM awards does Virat Kohli have?

Kohli finished his career with 10 Player of the Match awards from 123 matches. That’s a conversion rate of one every 12.3 Tests, well behind Stokes’ rate across a similar number of appearances.

 

Did Ben Stokes win more Player of the Match awards than Ian Botham?

Yes, Stokes finished with 15 awards to Botham’s 12. By conversion rate, the two are close, but Stokes’ one-every-8.1-Tests edges out Botham’s one-every-8.5, reversing the usual assumption that Botham holds the better rate.

 

What are Ben Stokes’ career Test batting and bowling statistics?

Stokes retired with 7,273 Test runs at an average of 34.46, including 14 centuries, and 252 wickets at 30.98. He is only the second Test player, after Kallis, to combine 7,000 runs with 250 wickets.