England cricket captain Stokes ‘lucky’ to be alive after facial injury

England Test captain Ben Stokes has said he feels “quite lucky” to be alive as he recovers from surgery after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

All-rounder Stokes required the procedure after suffering a broken cheekbone sustained by being hit by the ball during a net session while he was coaching academy players at his domestic county side Durham in February.

Stokes is set to play in two first-class County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been so much worse.

“I copped one straight in the face,” the 34-year-old told the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest. 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.”

He added: “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.

“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 fit to lead England in the first Test of their home season against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on June 4, as they look to recover from their woeful 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia.

Stokes downplays rift with England coach McCullum

Stokes, meanwhile, has played down reports of disagreements with head ⁠coach Brendon McCullum but added that they do have different viewpoints at times.

British media reported that former New Zealand captain McCullum’s relationship with Test ⁠captain Stokes frayed during the Ashes series defeat in Australia, though the duo have publicly backed each other.

“I am very confident in mine and Brendon’s ability to be able to work together, because we’ve done it for ‌such a long period of time now,” Stokes said in an interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“But we work together in a slightly different way. The main point of me and Brendon is our alignment towards winning things and making this team as good as they can be.”

Since taking charge in 2022, McCullum and Stokes implemented ⁠an ultra-aggressive style of play known as “Bazball”, which has ⁠come under much scrutiny since England’s Ashes defeat, prompting the ECB to launch a thorough review into the team’s preparations.

McCullum was retained as coach.

“Agreeing on every single thing, that’s ⁠just impossible,” Stokes said.

“We agree 95% of the time on things, but those 5% things that we might ⁠have different views on, we talk about it ⁠between each other and then we end up getting to the place where we want to get to.

“We put a lot of our heart and soul into this job. Brendon certainly ‌has for the four years he’s done it so far, and hopefully we’ll still be together at the end of 2027, winning what we want ‌to ‌win.”

England host New Zealand for a three-Test series in June before eight limited-overs matches at home to India.