England’s Ben Stokes ‘Quite Lucky’ To Be Alive After Facial Injury

London: England Test captain Ben Stokes says he feels “pretty lucky” to have survived after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

The versatile Stokes suffered a fractured cheekbone when he was hit by a ball during a net session while coaching academy players in Durham in February.

Stokes has had surgery and will play in two first-grade County Championship matches next month, but said the incident could have been much worse.

“I hit one straight across the face,” the 34-year-old told the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“Honestly, it’s pretty gross, but in a funny way, it’s probably the best outcome of a bad situation. If I hadn’t turned my head, just a few inches one way or another, I might not be here to do this interview.”

“All things considered, even though I had pretty major facial surgery to fix the problem, it was a bit of a mess here (the cheekbone), I was pretty lucky. I’m pretty thankful for that.”

He added: “Obviously that set everything back by about a month, five weeks, with me getting back to where I wanted to play for Durham at the start of the season, but I had to get back to the drawing board quickly and put together a plan to get me ready to play a few games for Durham before the Test summer started.

“We’re behind all of that now, but it was a pretty scary situation. Thank goodness we’re still here and everything’s OK.”

Stokes is expected to be ready to lead England in their first test of the season at home against New Zealand, which starts at Lord’s on June 4, as they look to recover from their 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia.