A shocking moment unfolded at Durham’s indoor training facility when England Test captain Ben Stokes suffered serious facial injuries after being hit by a powerful shot from an 18-year-old academy player.
Ben Stokes injured badly in shocking net session incident
The scary incident happened when Ben Stokes was helping coach Durham’s young players during a practice session. Teenage batter and wicketkeeper Robbie Bowman struck the ball hard, and it flew straight toward Stokes. The England all-rounder was hit on the right side of his face.
Stokes was immediately taken to the hospital. Later, the England captain shared a selfie on Instagram that showed the full impact of the blow. His right eye was swollen shut and badly bruised, with visible cuts on his cheek and mouth. A dressing was also seen coming out of his nose.
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Stokes’ humour shines through the pain
Despite the frightening injury, Stokes showed his trademark toughness and humor by joking about the condition of the cricket ball in the post. He captioned the post, “You should see the state of the cricket ball,” while adding a crying with laughter emoji.
How the accident happened during a coaching session
This could have been even worse, but Durham were fortunate that their medical staff was already present at the ground for a training exercise and handled the emergency situation. Durham coach Ryan Campbell revealed that Bowman had hit the ball cleanly and with force.
He further shared that the players nearby shouted a warning, but Stokes turned toward the ball at the wrong moment and was struck in the face. His close friend and former teammate Scott Borthwick drove Stokes to the hospital, accompanied by the team physio.
Ryan Campbell was quoted as saying by The Sun: “Stokesy said he broke the No. 1 rule of being a coach in the nets—never turn your back on the batter! By chance, our medical team was at the ground doing simulations. Suddenly, they had a real emergency to deal with.”
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How Stokes protects young player from guilt
Even while dealing with painful injuries, the England captain did not let the young player feel bad for him or blame himself for the incident.
The Durham coach revealed that Stokes personally called Bowman from the hospital and told him not to worry. Ben Stokes even blamed himself for the accident, knowing the young player would be deeply shaken by what had happened.
Campbell added, “I’ll tell you this because Stokesy never would. He phoned Robbie Bowman from his hospital and told him not to worry. He’d have known that Robbie would have been beside himself, but Ben said it was his fault. That sums up the sort of bloke Stokesy is.”
England captain to play for Durham before New Zealand Tests
The coach also revealed that Ben Stokes is likely to play at least four matches for Durham before the home Test series against New Zealand, starting on June 4 at Lord’s. Notably, Stokes is currently recovering from a groin injury that he suffered during the final Ashes Test in Australia.
Campbell added, “Ben has been looking good when batting in the nets. He has already indicated that he intends to play three or four county championship matches before that Test match.”
