Ben Stokes reflects on brush with disaster after suffering facial fracture while batting: ‘Thankfully still here'

Ben Stokes spoke about his recovery from facial surgery after a ‘lucky’ moment, and how it affects his plans for the English Test summer.

Ben Stokes revealed that he suffered a very close call with an extremely threatening injury, one which he believes could have turned out much worse with a little bit more bad luck. The England captain had to undergo facial surgery after being hit in the head by a ball while batting in the nets for Durham – a ‘scary’ situation that thankfully avoided the worst-case scenario.

Ben Stokes suffered a facial fracture in February. (AP)

Stokes was batting in the nets at Chester-le-Street, where he was hosting a session with the age-group and developmental players in the Durham system, when he shattered his cheekbone in February. Surgery followed, but the England captain was counting his lucky stars.

“I copped one straight in the face. Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest,” reflected Stokes while holding an interview with the ECB website.

“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,” he explained.

Stokes’ recovery has seen him miss the initial round of the County Championship, which got underway this month. However, he is expected to be back in the first week of May. For a player afflicted with dangerous injuries and familiar with playing through pain, this was another instance in a long line of cricket-related injuries.

England Test schedule still on track for Stokes

“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,” Stokes continued.

The English captain last played competitive cricket in the Ashes this January, but saw his schedule ahead of England’s Test summer delayed by a month due to the surgery. He maintained that while his start with Durham had to be pushed, he is still optimistic about playing a handful of games and preparing for the Test summer.

“Obviously it 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,” explained Stokes. “At the back end of all that now, but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”

All is well that ends well – but for Stokes, Brendon McCullum, and Rob Key, there is an awareness that even a scary injury such as this cannot distract from the mess that England cricket and all the narrative surrounding it has found itself in.