England cricket captain Ben Stokes suffered a significant facial injury after being struck by a cricket ball during a training session. The England legend took to social media to share images of his wounds, with Stokes seen sporting a very swollen black eye, as well as a series of cuts to his cheek.
Stokes also had a piece of tissue lodged up his nose, suggesting it had been bleeding. The photo was shared to his three million Instagram followers, with Stokes captioning it: “You should see the state of the cricket ball [laughing emoji].”
It’s believed that Stokes suffered the injury while practising at Durham’s indoor facility following England’s disastrous Ashes campaign down under. Stokes wasn’t said to be batting or bowling at the time and was instead standing to one side, but didn’t see the ball flying towards his face.
Stokes had been recovering from a separate injury he sustained during the Australia series, which England went on to lose 4-1. A groin problem hampered England’s bowling attack in the fifth and final Test in Sydney, with injuries having plagued his spell as England captain.
However, any question of Stokes stepping aside as captain has been squashed, with the 34-year-old keen to stay on until the 2027 home Ashes against Australia. Speaking during the recent series against Australia, he said: “It hurts and it sucks. It’s very disappointing knowing that we can’t achieve what we set out to do here.
“It’s a pretty emotional time for me in the dressing room and for the guys, players, management, backroom stuff. I hate living in hindsight because you can never change what you have done…
“It’s what you do out there that counts and we’ve not been able to stand up to what Australia have thrown at us. We’ve not been able to stand up to the barrage of execution from Australia. But we still have two games left in the series and a hell of a lot to play for, as individuals and as a team.”
Stokes went on to reply “absolutely” when quizzed on whether he intends to stay on as captain into the 2026 Test summer. Before that, Stokes will join up with Andrew Flintoff’s coaching team for an England Lions white-ball series with Pakistan.