England captain Ben Stokes suffered a bruised eye and bleeding nose after being hit by a ball in training. Out with injury, heโll return for Tests vs New Zealand. Meanwhile, the all-rounder wasn’t batting or bowling during the injury. He was standing when the ball hit him all of a sudden.
Ben Stokes was left nursing a nasty facial injury after a freak accident during an England training session, with the Test captain revealing a badly bruised right eye and a bleeding nose after being struck flush by a cricket ball. Stokes shared the aftermath on Instagram, attempting to see the lighter side of the incident despite the visible damage.
โYou should see the state of the cricket ball,โ Stokes posted on Instagram.
Reports suggest Stokes was not batting when the incident occurred. He was standing nearby with teammates when the ball came from his blind side and hit him on the right side of the face. The incident comes at a time when Stokes is already recovering from an injury sustained during the Ashes series.
The 32-year-old is currently unavailable for Englandโs white-ball plans and will not take part in the upcoming T20 World Cup. His return to competitive cricket is expected during the home Test series against New Zealand in June, where he is set to rejoin the red-ball setup.
Stokesโ leadership under scanner
Stokesโ leadership has remained a talking point following Englandโs heavy 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia. Former England fast bowler James Anderson publicly questioned the tone of Stokesโ comments after the series, particularly his praise of player effort despite the lopsided result.
โWhen I saw Stokes come out and say, the way (Josh) Tongue and (Brydon) Carse have just run in like consistently, I had a Roy Keane moment,โ said Anderson on BBC Radio. โI was like, thatโs your job. If youโre not willing to run in all day for your team, donโt bother. Youโre in the wrong sport,โ Anderson told BBC Radio.ย
Stokes addressed those criticisms during the press conference following the fifth Test, acknowledging Englandโs shortcomings while firmly defending his playersโ commitment throughout the tour.
โWeโve dropped a lot of catches on this tour which have been very costly to the overall situation of the games. In terms up of stepping up, I can never fault anyoneโs commitment or energy that theyโve given into this. We havenโt performed well, we know that, we hold our hands up to that. But no one should question the care and commitment to try and go out there and give it your absolute best. Itโs just been down to the lack of execution,โ Stokes said.