Ben Stokes suffers facial injuries from ball hit by Durham teenager

Ben Stokes has suffered a black eye and significant facial bruising after being struck on the cheek by a ball hit by a Durham youth-team player in the nets.

Stokes, England's Test captain, revealed the injury via Instagram story on Thursday, joking: "You should see the state of the ball."

Stokes sustained the injuries while standing at the side of a nets session, as 18-year-old keeper-batter Robbie Bowman was batting. "Stokesy said he broke the No. 1 rule of being a coach in the nets: never turn your back on the batter," Durham head coach Ryan Campbell told the Sun newspaper.

"By chance, our medical team were at the ground doing simulations. Suddenly, they had a real emergency to deal with. Robbie hit the ball hard. Players shouted out a warning but Stokesy ended up turning his head towards the ball. Scottie Borthwick, his great mate, drove him to hospital and our physio went as well.

"I'll tell you this because Stokesy never would. He phoned Robbie Bowman from his hospital and told him not to worry. He'd have known that Robbie would have been beside himself but Ben said it was his fault. That sums up the sort of bloke Stokesy is."

Bowman, who was born in Surrey, made four appearances for Durham in the Metro Bank One-Day Cup last summer and was a regular for their second team.

Stokes has been in rehabilitation since leaving the field with an adductor injury during the fifth Ashes Test in Sydney last month.

He is due to be in Abu Dhabi later this month to continue his recovery and will also link up with Andrew Flintoff's England Lions squad in an informal coaching capacity.

Stokes has not played white-ball cricket for England since the 50-over World Cup in 2023, and is not involved in their squad for the T20 World Cup, which starts this weekend.

His next international appearance is likely to come in the first Test of England's home series against New Zealand in June, though he may play for Durham in the County Championship before then.

"Ben has been looking good when batting in the nets," Campbell added. "He has already indicated that he intends playing three or four County Championship matches before that Test match."

Stokes said after England's 4-1 defeat in Australia that he is "as keen as anything" to continue in his role as Test captain, and backed Brendon McCullum to carry on as head coach.

"It's not my decision [but] I'm sure if something ever comes to it, I'll be asked my opinion and he'll be getting my full support and backing," Stokes said. "I absolutely love working with Baz. He's a great man and he's a very, very, very good coach."