England’s Ben Stokes in motion throughout Ashes Take a look at. — Reuters
LONDON: England Take a look at captain Ben Stokes has suffered a extreme facial damage after being struck by a cricket ball.
The 34-year-old all-rounder posted an image on Instagram displaying his proper eye closely swollen and bruised, a graze on his cheek and lip, and a bandage stuffed in his nostril.
“You should see the state of the cricket ball,” learn Stokes’ caption of the image, alongside a laughing face emoji.
Stokes is again in England following a woeful Ashes tour, which ended with a 4-1 sequence loss to Australia final month.
Though Stokes has made it clear he desires to proceed to captain the red-ball aspect, his place stays unsure amid an England and Wales Cricket Board evaluation.
England coach Brendon McCullum has labelled a number of the ensuing fall-out from the Ashes “out of order”.
Stokes is now not a member of England’s white-ball set-up and received´t characteristic within the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka that begins this weekend.
He might subsequent play for Durham within the early rounds of the County Championship earlier than England start their dwelling Take a look at season towards New Zealand at Lord´s on June 4 — Stokes’s thirty fifth birthday.
Stokes is at the moment recovering from an adductor damage suffered through the fifth Ashes Take a look at in Sydney in January.
The damage prevented him from bowling in Australia´s second innings and accomplished a irritating tour for the England skipper, who bowled properly all through the sequence however struggled with the bat.
Stokes’ groin downside is the newest of a number of accidents which have blighted his profession.
In 2024, he tore his hamstring twice and he completed final season’s dwelling sequence towards India on the sidelines on account of a shoulder downside, having undergone an operation in late 2023 to take care of knee points.
Stokes is contracted by England till the tip of the 2027 dwelling season summer season and he might now keep away from coming into subsequent month’s public sale for the Hundred, leaving him free to concentrate on the Take a look at crew.
