Petition Launched To Rename Stoke-On-Trent To ‘Ben-Stokes-On-Trent’ After World Cup Heroics

A hilarious petition has been launched online calling for the city of Stoke-on-Trent to be rebranded in honour of World Cup hero Ben Stokes.

Dan North took to Change.org to start up his petition and has demanded that the city be changed to 'Ben-Stokes-On-Trent.'

He wrote: "Ben Stokes has cemented himself as an absolutely remarkable cricketer and sportsperson by helping England win the Cricket World Cup in 2019 with an outstanding performance.

"It is therefore only fitting for the northern town of 'Stoke-On-Trent' to be renamed 'Ben-Stokes-On-Trent.'"

North launched his petition on Sunday following England's World Cup triumph and he has acquired 12 signatures at the time of this writing.

Stokes, 28, was the man of the hour for England as he fired them to their first World Cup title with an impressive batting performance.

The England all-rounder, who was named in the team of the tournament, scored an unbeaten 84 against New Zealand in the final at Lord's.

And Stokes scored eight runs off three balls during the super over to help break the deadlock between the two sides.

Joe Root, 28, praised Stokes for an inspiring performance that allowed England to beat the Black Caps in an enthralling final.

"Wow! It's hard to sum it up. What a day, what a tournament. Everyone has done everything asked of them. We have performed under pressure," the England batsman told BBC Sport.

"It was almost written in the stars for Ben Stokes. He's had such a tough time. I'm so proud of him and pleased for him and his family."

England captain Eoin Morgan also singled out the "almost superhuman" Stokes for his partnership with Jos Buttler.

"He's almost superhuman," he said.

"He really carried the team and our batting line-up.

"I know Jos and his partnership was extraordinary, but to bat with the lower order the way he did, I thought was incredible.

"The atmosphere, the emotion that was going through the whole game, he managed to deal with that in an extremely experienced manner.

"And obviously everybody watching at home will hopefully try and be the next Ben Stokes."

Stokes has also become the odds-on favourite for bookies to win BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, with his odds slashed from 28/1 to 2/1 overnight.

Thoughts on the World Cup final?

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Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: New Zealand, Cricket, England, Cricket World Cup, World Cup, Cricket News, Ben Stokes

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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