England captain Ben Stokes will play in Durham’s County Championship game against Northamptonshire, starting on Friday.
Stokes was dropped for this week’s second Test against New Zealand after he and seamer Gus Atkinson breached a midnight curfew following the series opener at Lord’s, leaving his future as captain up in the air.
Rather than taking a break entirely, Stokes opted to return to his home county and will feature in this week’s Division Two fixture.
“Ben sent me a text and then gave me a phone call and said that he really needed to play and wanted to play for Durham,” the county’s head coach Ryan Campbell told Sky Sports News on Thursday.
“We’re always backing our players and the guy needs to play cricket so we are very welcome to have him here.
“He’s in our 11 and will take part tomorrow. He will have ball in hand or bat probably five or six with us. We’re still debating whether he should open the bowling for us but he’s going to be right in the thick of the action.”
‘Stokes wants to get back to doing what he loves the most’
Stokes has not commented publicly on his absence from the England team, and it is unclear when there will be a resolution surrounding his future.
The night in which Stokes and Atkinson broke England’s curfew ended with a member of ECB’s security staff being struck by a rugby player from English club Saracens in a nightclub.
The saga has heaped more scrutiny on the professionalism and culture around England’s Test team – led by head coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes – following a humiliating Ashes tour, after which a midnight curfew was imposed on England’s players and staff.
Campbell said on Thursday that in spite of the latest incident Stokes was “fine” and excited to play for Durham.
“He’s very focused on what he needs to do to prepare himself for the next game and the next game happens to be for us, so he’s ready to go,” he said.
“As a coach you always have a duty of care and you worry about your players all the time and that’s part of the job so to speak.
“From what I’ve seen from Ben, he’s in good order, he’s free to play, he wants to get back into doing the thing that he loves the most. He’s going to play cricket and I guess that’s where he’s at his calmest and at his best.
“He’s ready to go, he wants to play, and he will play.”
Campbell feels 35-year-old Stokes “wants to get back to doing what he does best”, saying: “Playing cricket for Durham and England is what he loves, and he does it well, and hopefully he can do it well for us over the next four days and then when he gets the call back whenever that is I hope that he does it very, very well for England.”
Campbell defends ‘modern day great’ Stokes
“Whatever he’s done going out after the curfew, that shouldn’t be in front of the amount of cricket games that he has won for England,” Campbell continued.
“The amount of enjoyment that people have paid to go and watch him play.
“I’ve been lucky enough to play with and coach some of the great of the game and they’ve all got this trait. When they are under this extreme pressure, they produce. Ben Stokes has done that over and over again. He is one of the modern day greats. At the end of the day it should be runs and wickets that we talk about.”
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Nasser Hussain strongly defends Stokes and he thinks the ECB should have backed their captain more
Root: Stokes in a good place but feels like he let himself down
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England captain for the second Test Joe Root gives his verdict on Stokes and Gus Atkinson breaking the team curfew after the first Test
With Stokes absent, stand-in skipper Joe Root spoke before the second Test and insisted “there isn’t a drinking culture” within the team and feels there is no need for an alcohol ban.
Root refused to disclose what was said with his good friend Stokes last week, but told Sky Sports: “I’ve spoken with Ben, he seems in a good place in the last week or so.
“There’s been a few incidents where guys have let themselves down, but I don’t necessarily think that’s a fair reflection of our dressing room. We’ve got to obviously own it and know that that is not okay, but at the same time, I don’t think that’s a fair reflection on us as a team. We work incredibly hard.
“As a cricketer, the amount of time and pressure that you spend away from home, away from your families, in high-pressure environments, and mistakes have been made. We have to learn from those clearly, and we have to move on from those quickly, and we have to earn the trust of everyone back by being as professional as we can, and putting good performances in.
“I think Ben feels like he’s let himself down, right? My main concern is, always, you look at the person and make sure that they’re okay, so that is first and foremost the most important thing, and then in terms of this week and moving forward as a team, it’s concentrating, making sure that everyone is fully on task and understanding of what’s ahead of us and what an exciting opportunity we have.”
England vs New Zealand – results and schedule
All times UK and Ireland, all games live on Sky Sports
First Test (Lord’s) – England won by 115 runsSecond Test (The Kia Oval) – June 17-21 (11am)Third Test (Trent Bridge) – June 25-29 (11am)
Watch the day two of the second Test between England and New Zealand live on Sky Sports Cricket on June 18 from 10am (first ball 11am).
