Ben Stokes ‘lucky’ to be alive after horrific facial injury

Ben Stokes has opened up on the horrific facial injury he suffered in the nets, admitting he is lucky to be alive.

Stokes was struck in the face with a cricket ball and suffered a broken cheekbone while training with Durham in February.

He underwent facial surgery and is still waiting to make his return to competitive cricket. He is not due to play again until early next month, when Durham play Worcestershire in a four-day game starting on May 8.

“It was a pretty scary situation,” he said in an interview on the ECB’s website. “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.

“It was a bit of a mess. I’ve got out quite lucky. Thankfully I’m still here and everything’s all right. Obviously it set everything back about a month, five weeks, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham, but 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.”

He posted photographs on social media of his bruised and swollen face following the operation.

Stokes has suffered many injuries down the years but this freak accident has knocked him back and it will be a challenge when he has to face short-pitched bowling again. Stuart Broad, for example, was never the same again when facing bouncers after he suffered a facial injury in a Test match against India.

Stokes is a better batsman than Broad and has never been ruffled by fast, short-pitched bowling in the past but it is natural he will feel apprehensive the first time he is tested. It is unlikely to happen on the soft pitches and gentle pace of county cricket but New Zealand can boast a decent pace attack in the Test series that starts in June.

In the interview, Stokes reiterated his desire to carry on as Test captain and throw himself into rebuilding the team after the 4-1 Ashes defeat.

“The fact that I am so consumed by trying to make sure that we do things in the future to potentially stop a series like Australia happening again – to me that’s positive and proves how much I still want to do this, how much I’m still eager to do the role as England captain and be part of English cricket going forward,” he said.

“Whereas if I got back and just completely shut myself away from it, and maybe didn’t pay any interest, and just see what happens and let other people make decisions for me – probably subconsciously that’s me going ‘I don’t really want this’. But the fact that I was how I was for the first week or two after Australia really proved that I’m proper in this still.”

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