Cricket
6 hours ago
"Inches" from tragedy: England star "lucky" to be alive
By SEN
England captain Ben Stokes has revealed he is "lucky" to be alive following a horror injury while playing cricket.
Stokes sustained horrendous injuries after being struck in the face by a ball in February during a routine training session in Durham.
At the time he shared gruesome images of his injuries on social media and confirmed he had undergone surgery to assist his recovery and fix a broken cheekbone.
The 34-year-old, who is yet to return to competitive cricket, has now lifted the lid on just how perilous the injury was and how close it came to being a tragic event.
“It was a pretty scary situation,” he told the ECB website.
“I copped one straight in the face. 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.
“It was a bit of a mess. I’ve got out quite lucky. Thankfully I’m still here and everything’s all right. 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.”
The injury came just weeks after Stokes and his teammates were humiliated in the Ashes series against Australia.
Underprepared and over confident, the visitors left Australia with their tails between their legs having been handed a 1-4 series smashing.
While their performances were ridiculed, the England side were accused of “disrespecting the game” with their off-field actions through the series.
A night out in Noosa became the focus of the series’ post-mortem, as England players were threatened with a curfew amid reports of excessive drinking sessions.
Stokes' leadership was also heavily criticised but he has since reiterated his commitment to captaining his country for years to come.
