Golden duck for Ben Stokes on miserable Northern Superchargers return

England Test skipper Ben Stokes was out first ball on his Hundred return as Northern Superchargers were thumped by 10 wickets by Birmingham Phoenix at Edgbaston.

Stokes, making his first appearance in this year’s competition, was bowled by a beauty from Tim Southee at the start of a sorry innings that saw Andrew Flintoff’s Superchargers skittled for 83.

After the visitors won the toss, Stokes was made to wait 20 balls at the non-striker’s end before becoming one of three wickets for Southee.

Adam Milne also struck three times and Chris Wood claimed two scalps as the likes of Harry Brook and Nicholas Pooran failed to fire.

Southee said: “We assessed conditions reasonably quickly and the seamers hit a good length that proved difficult to play. It was a pretty clinical performance all round.

“This is a great team to be a part of and I’m enjoying my time here. That goes a long way, and it is nice to chalk up another win.

“A win like that can only do wonders for the confidence going into our next games but we know we are heading to a different ground and different opposition, so we have to start again.

“There are no easy teams in this tournament so we should have another good couple of matches coming up.”