Ben Stokes was hit in the face by a cricket ball in February while working in the nets with academy players at his county Durham, requiring major facial surgery on a broken cheekbone. He has been ruled out of action until May, but is set to return for Durham in the County Championship at Worcestershire on 8 May. Stokes had his target of featuring in half of Durham’s opening six County Championship fixtures eradicated by specialists; he was pencilled in to face Kent at Chester-le-Street next Friday until a fortnight ago when a meeting with the surgeon resulted in a revision of expectations to two matches in May. The setback occurred when he was struck in the face by a drive from teenager Robbie Bowman at an academy net session.
Medical specialists have been very clear that Stokes' cheekbone needs to heal before he can have the confidence to run in and bowl at batters. Even playing as a batsman was a no-go for Stokes because of the threat of being struck in the face while fielding. This comes after he limped out of the 4-1 Ashes defeat to Australia with an adductor injury suffered on the penultimate day of the series.
Stokes said a lot of the criticism of England during the Ashes was warranted, and that his own reaction to the Ashes series defeat proved to himself he is committed to England. He stated that the focus in 2022 was about bringing enjoyment back, but now it is about everything they do is to win, being relentless in training and behavior. Stokes retained the England captaincy following a post-Ashes review.
Stokes dismissed talk of a rift with coach Brendon McCullum. He said he does not want every player to play in the same style.
Durham have no expectations of Mark Wood playing for them this season. Wood was advised in January by knee consultant Simon Ball to take his time in rehabilitation after discomfort surfaced in his 38th Test cap in Perth on November 21. Meanwhile, Matthew Potts has had no appearance restrictions placed upon him by the ECB in the build-up.