Ben Stokes ‘quite lucky’ to have escaped further harm in training mishap

Ben Stokes has admitted he feels lucky to be alive after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

The England captain suffered a broken right cheekbone and other facial injuries following the accident that occurred while he was coaching Durham’s academy players in February.

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Stokes underwent surgery and is on track to play in two County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been significantly worse.

Speaking in an in-house interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board, the 34-year-old said: “I copped one straight in the face.

“Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest. Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview, if I didn’t turn my head round.

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“All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out, it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone), I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that.

“Obviously set everything back about a month, five weeks, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham, but just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts.

“At the back end of all that now but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”

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Stokes is expected to be ready to lead England in their first Test of the summer against New Zealand at Lord’s beginning on June 4 as they look to bounce back from their Ashes drubbing.

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