Ben Stokes ‘fortunate to be alive’ as he admits surgical procedure after ‘scary scenario’
England cricket star Ben Stokes has admitted his gruesome injury he suffered back in February could have been so much worse and he’s “lucky to be alive”
Ben Stokes has opened up on the interview(Image: ECB)
England star Ben Stokes has admitted he’s “lucky to be alive” after a scary situation while he was coaching Durham’s academy players in February.
Stokes suffered a broken right cheekbone and other facial injuries following the accident – revealing his black eye on social media while joking: “You should have seen the state of the ball..”
Stokes underwent surgery and is on track to play in the County Championship next month, but he revealed it could have been significantly worse. Speaking in an interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board, he said: “I copped one straight in the face.
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“Pretty nasty but, 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 under here (cheekbone), I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that.
“Obviously 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.
“At the back end of all that now but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”
Stokes is expected to be ready to lead England in their first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s beginning on June 4 as they look to bounce back from their Ashes drubbing.
“I think that a lot of it was warranted,” he said. “A lot of it was put forward in a way that was a bit extreme but I think, when you look at it deep, deep, deep, you agree with some of it.
“I also think that some of it was a bit harsh and a bit unneeded and it was like the knives are out.
“You’ve got to take it because performing like we did in Australia is disappointing to a lot of people, and I feel like a word like ‘unacceptable’ for us to perform that way would be close because we’re a much better team than that.”
