A shocking moment emerged 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 badly injured in shocking incident of net session
The scary incident happened when Ben Stokes was helping coach Durham’s young players during a practice session. Teenage batsman and wicketkeeper Robbie Bowman hit the ball hard and it went straight towards Stokes. The England all-rounder was injured 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 shock. His right eye was swollen, closed and badly bruised, with bruises visible on his cheeks and mouth. A bandage was also seen coming out of his nose.
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Stokes’ humor shines through the pain
Despite the horrific injury, Stokes showed his trademark toughness and humor by mocking the position of the cricket ball at the post. “You should see the condition of the cricket ball,” she captioned the post, adding a crying with laughter emoji.
How did the accident happen during coaching?
It could have been worse, but Durham were fortunate that their medical staff was already on the field for a training exercise and handled the emergency. Durham coach Ryan Campbell revealed that Bowman hit the ball cleanly and with power.
He further said that nearby players warned, but Stokes turned towards the ball at the wrong time and the ball hit him in the face. His close friend and former teammate Scott Borthwick took Stokes to hospital along with the team physio.
Ryan Campbell was quoted by The Sun as saying: “Stokesy said he broke the No. 1 rule of being a coach in the nets – never turn your back on the batsman! Coincidentally, our medical team were doing simulations on the field. Suddenly, they had a real emergency to deal with.”
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How does Stokes save the young player from guilt?
Despite suffering painful injuries, the England captain did not let the youngster feel bad for himself 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 also blamed himself for the accident, knowing that what happened would have deeply traumatized the young player.
Campbell said, “I’ll tell you this because Stokesy would never do that. He called Robbie Bowman from his hospital and told him not to worry. He knew Robbie would have had him, but Ben said it was his fault. It shows what kind of man Stokesy is.”
England captain will play for Durham before New Zealand Test
The coach also revealed that Ben Stokes is likely to play at least four matches for Durham ahead of the home Test series against New Zealand starting on June 4 at Lord’s. Notably, Stokes is currently recovering from his groin injury which he suffered during the final Ashes Test in Australia.
“Ben has looked 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,” Campbell said.
