Ben Stokes has admitted he feels “lucky” to have escaped more serious harm after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.
The England Test captain suffered a broken right cheekbone and other facial injuries following the accident that occurred while he was coaching Durham’s academy players in February.
Stokes underwent surgery and is on track to play in two County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been significantly worse.
Stokes suffered significant injuries after being hit by a cricket ball in training earlier this year
“Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest,” Stokes said as part of an interview with the ECB.
“I copped one straight in the face. Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview, if I didn’t turn my head round.
“All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out – it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone) – I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that.
“It obviously set everything back about a month, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham.
“I just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts.
“I’m at the back end of all that now but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”
Stokes is expected to be ready to lead England in their first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s beginning on June 4 as they look to bounce back from their 4-1 Ashes drubbing over the winter.
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Ben Stokes has reaffirmed that he and Brendon McCullum are aligned with their vision and hopes they’ll still be working together at the end of 2027.
Stokes has dismissed any suggestion that he and head coach Brendon McCullum are not aligned after the dismal tour of Australia, insisting that differences of opinion are integral to healthy and successful sporting relationships.
“When you’re in a position of leadership with someone else, if anyone thinks you’re always going to agree on everything, then it’s just impossible,” Stokes said.
“To me, that isn’t a healthy environment for sport, where everyone just agrees with everyone or says yes to the person up there. You need debate. You need discussions. Then you end up getting to the place you both want to reach.
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On the latest Sky Sports Cricket Podcast, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discuss whether Ben Stokes’ approach to captaincy will change this summer.
“As similar as me and Brendon are, we’re also dissimilar in other areas. But the thing we both want is to be as successful as we possibly can.
“We agree 95 per cent of the time, but for the five per cent where we have different views, we talk it through and end up getting to where we want to be.
“Agreeing on every single thing is impossible. Saying we weren’t aligned is a massive overstatement.”
Watch England’s home international summer live on Sky Sports, starting with a three-Test series against New Zealand from June 4. Not got Sky? Stream cricket contract-free on NOW.
