LONDON: England Check 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 exhibiting his proper eye closely swollen and bruised, a graze on his cheek and lip, and a bandage stuffed in his nostril.
“It is best to 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 collection loss to Australia final month.
Though Stokes has made it clear he needs to proceed to captain the red-ball aspect, his place stays unsure amid an England and Wales Cricket Board assessment.
England coach Brendon McCullum has labelled a few 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 function within the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka that begins this weekend.
He may subsequent play for Durham within the early rounds of the County Championship earlier than England start their dwelling Check season towards New Zealand at Lord´s on June 4 — Stokes’s thirty fifth birthday.
Stokes is presently recovering from an adductor damage suffered through the fifth Ashes Check 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 nicely all through the collection however struggled with the bat.
Stokes’ groin drawback 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 collection towards India on the sidelines as a consequence of a shoulder drawback, 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 give attention to the Check group.
