Ben Stokes ‘quite lucky’ to have escaped further harm in training mishap

Ben Stokes has admitted he feels lucky to be alive after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

The England captain suffered a broken right cheekbone and other facial injuries following the accident that occurred while he was coaching Durham’s academy players in February.

Stokes underwent surgery and is on track to play in two County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been significantly worse.

Speaking in an in-house interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board, the 34-year-old said: “I copped one straight in the face.

“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.

“Obviously 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 ready to lead England in their first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s beginning on June 4 as they look to bounce back from their Ashes drubbing.

The all-rounder admitted the criticism the team received for their preparation, performances and behaviour in Australia was difficult but he is not shying away from it.

“I think that a lot of it was warranted,” he said. “A lot of it was put forward in a way that was a bit extreme but I think, when you look at it deep, deep, deep, you agree with some of it.

“I also think that some of it was a bit harsh and a bit unneeded and it was like the knives are out.

“You’ve got to take it because performing like we did in Australia is disappointing to a lot of people, and I feel like a word like ‘unacceptable’ for us to perform that way would be close because we’re a much better team than that.”

Stokes is confident the experience will prove valuable in the long run, adding: “Overall it was pretty tough and a lot of it we’ve got to take blame as players and as a team and as an organisation.

“You learn from these things. I’ve come away from Australia obviously disappointed but had a real deep, hard think about quite a lot of things.

“I’m very comfortable and very confident about where I am right now with what we need to do to kick on and take the team forward again. I look back to when I first took this job on – we’re in a much stronger position now than we were then.”

And Stokes will not be looking to send a message to England’s critics this summer.

“I don’t want to feel like I’m only going out there to be successful to say ‘F you’ to everyone who’s criticised us,” he said.

“I don’t think that’s a very healthy way to look at it. I want to go out there and do well because I’m representing England.”