Ben Stokes said he feels 'quite lucky' to be alive after being hit in the face by a cricket ball, the England captain revealed on Wednesday. Stokes required surgery after fracturing his right cheekbone in a freak accident, along with other facial injuries, while coaching Durham’s academy players in February.
In an in-house interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board, the 34-year-old all-rounder recalled: "I copped one straight in the face. Pretty nasty, 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."
"I've got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that. Obviously set everything back about a month, five weeks, to get back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham. But I 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," he added.
Stokes set to return during Test against New Zealand
Stokes added that he is now through the worst of it and grateful to be back on track ahead of leading England in their opening Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 4, as they look to rebound from a 4-1 Ashes defeat. Reflecting on the criticism following England’s performances and behaviour in Australia, he admitted it was difficult but not entirely unfair. "A lot of it was warranted," he said. "Some of it was a bit extreme, but when you look closely, you can understand parts of it.
"Some of it was harsh and unnecessary, but that’s what comes with it. If you perform like that in Australia, you have to take it. I feel a word like ‘unacceptable’ fits our performances. We’re a much better team than that. It was tough overall, and we as players and as a team have to take responsibility. You learn from these experiences," Stokes said.
