Ben Stokes has said he is ‘lucky’ to be alive after a ball broke his cheekbone during a net session at Durham in February.
England’s Test captain underwent ‘pretty major facial surgery’ after the accident, delaying his return to county cricket until next month.
‘It was a pretty scary situation,’ he told the ECB website. ‘I copped one straight in the face. 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.
‘It was a bit of a mess. I’ve got out quite lucky. Thankfully I’m still here and everything’s all right.’
Stokes originally had his target of featuring in half of Durham’s opening six County Championship fixtures, before a meeting with the surgeon who operated on his fractured cheekbone resulted in a revision of expectations to two.
This means he is set to return to action for Durham against Worcestershire and Kent in the first half of May, before the first Test against New Zealand on June 4, and may also appear for England Lions against South Africa A at Arundel on May 22.
Durham head coach Ryan Campbell told Daily Mail Sport last month: ‘He was ready to go. His aim was to play round one and then sort of work his schedule out after that.
‘There was no way he was going to play six games, for instance, but three of the six was what we were looking at. Unfortunately, it is not to be.
‘He wants to get up and running because they haven’t played since the fifth Test in Sydney, so it was a rare opportunity for him to play some decent cricket with us.’
Stokes limped out of the 4-1 defeat to Australia with an adductor injury suffered on the penultimate day of the series, and was then set back further when he was struck in the face by a drive from teenager Robbie Bowman at an academy net session.
Campbell said ‘the specialists have been very clear with what’s going on and that definitely needs to heal before he can have the confidence to run in and bowl at batters,’ but even playing as a batsman was a no-go because of the threat of being struck in the face while fielding.
Meanwhile Stokes has also admitted he became ‘consumed’ by the Ashes following England’s harrowing 4–1 defeat, but insists his passion proves he is still committed to the Test captaincy.
Stokes said he never contemplated stepping down after the tour of Australia, but did say he was concerned by the fact that he couldn’t get the trip out of his mind.
‘I was getting a bit worried initially, because I just couldn’t stop thinking about it,’ he said. ‘I couldn’t stop thinking about Australia, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the Test summer coming up. Genuinely, it just completely and utterly consumed me.
‘I would switch off from it for about half an hour, and then I’d get my iPad out and start writing down notes and all this kind of stuff. I’d never experienced that before. I thought I had gone into those places before, but after Australia, my gosh, it was pretty extreme.’
Stokes told the ECB website that he decided to turn his mental agitation into a positive.
‘The fact that I am so consumed by trying to make sure that we do things in the future to potentially stop a series like Australia happening again – to me that’s positive and proves how much I still want to do this, how much I’m still eager to do the role as England captain and be part of English cricket going forward,’ he said.
‘Whereas if I got back and just completely shut myself away from it, and maybe didn’t pay any interest, and just see what happens and let other people make decisions for me probably – probably subconsciously that’s me going “I don’t really want this”.
‘But the fact that I was how I was for the first week or two after Australia, really proved that I’m proper in this still.’
