England captain Ben Stokes was hit in the face by a cricket ball, requiring surgery to repair a fractured cheekbone.
Published April 15, 2026
England Test captain Ben Stokes has recovered from surgery after being hit in the face by a cricket ball and says he feels “very lucky” to be alive.
All-rounder Stokes was coaching academy players at domestic county side Durham in February when he was hit by a ball during a net session, resulting in a fractured cheekbone that required surgery.
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Stokes, who will play in two first-class County Championship matches next month, revealed the incident could have been much worse.
“I took a shot to the face,” the 34-year-old told the England and Wales Cricket Board.
“It’s pretty awful, but the funny thing is, to be honest, it’s probably the best outcome of a bad situation. If I hadn’t gone just a few inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview.
“All things considered, I had pretty extensive facial surgery to sort it out and it was a bit of a mess down here (on the cheekbones), but I was very lucky to be saved and I’m really grateful.”
Furthermore, he added: “Obviously everything went back to where I wanted to play at the beginning of the season with Durham, about a month, five weeks ago, but I just had to go right back to the drawing board and put together a plan to get Durham ready to play a few games before the Test summer starts.
“Everything is in its final stages right now, but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully I’m still here and everything is okay.”
Stokes is expected to be fit to lead England in their first Test of the home season against New Zealand starting at Lord’s on June 4, as they look to bounce back from their disastrous 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia.
Stokes downplays rift with England coach McCullum
Meanwhile, Stokes has dismissed reports of disagreements with head coach Brendon McCullum, although he added that they sometimes have different views.
British media reported that the relationship between former New Zealand captain McCullum and Test captain Stokes had developed a rift during the Ashes series defeat in Australia, although the pair publicly supported each other.
“I’m very confident in me and Brendon’s ability to work together, because we’ve been working together for a very long time,” Stokes said in an interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
“But we work together in a slightly different way. The big thing for me and Brendon is to be aligned towards winning things and making this team as good as possible.”
Since taking over as manager in 2022, McCullum and Stokes have introduced a hyper-attacking style of play known as ‘buzz ball’, which has attracted significant attention since England’s Ashes defeat, prompting the ECB to launch an overhaul of the team’s preparations.
Mr. McCollum was retained as coach.
“It’s simply impossible to agree on everything,” Stokes said.
“We agree on 95% of things, but we might have different views on 5% of things. We talk about it with each other and ultimately get to where we want to get to.
“We’ve put a lot of heart and soul into this job. Brendon has definitely done that over the last four years. Hopefully, we’ll still be together until the end of 2027 and win what we want to win.”
England will host New Zealand in June for a three-Test series, followed by eight limited-overs matches at home against India.
