Ben Stokes has revealed he feels “quite lucky” to be alive after a terrifying training incident left him with a broken cheekbone, underlining just how close he came to a far more serious outcome. The all-rounder was struck flush on the face by a cricket ball during a net session while coaching academy players at Durham in February, an accident he now describes as “pretty nasty” but, in hindsight, fortunate.“I copped one straight in the face,” Stokes said, reflecting on the moment. “Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview.” The 34-year-old underwent major facial surgery after the blow, admitting the damage underneath the cheekbone was severe. Yet, despite the seriousness of the injury, Stokes maintained that he had escaped a worst-case scenario. “All things considered… I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that,” he added, calling it the “best result of a bad situation.”Road to recovery and renewed focus ahead of TestsThe incident disrupted his preparations for the season, delaying his return to action by over a month. Stokes acknowledged the setback forced him to “go back to the drawing board” and rebuild his fitness plan ahead of England’s busy Test summer. Now nearing full recovery, he is expected to feature in County Championship matches before leading England against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 4. “It was a pretty scary situation… thankfully still here and everything’s all right,” he said.

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes (AP Photo)

Beyond his injury, Stokes also addressed speculation around his working relationship with Brendon McCullum following England’s 4-1 Ashes defeat in Australia. Dismissing talk of a rift as a “massive overstatement,” Stokes emphasised that differences in approach are natural in leadership roles. While their dynamic may “look a little bit different” going forward, he reaffirmed their shared goal of building a winning team.As England reset ahead of a crucial home season, Stokes’ perspective — shaped by both physical adversity and leadership challenges — highlights a renewed focus on resilience, adaptability, and long-term success.

Ben Stokes and Brendon McCullum. (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)

England Test captain Ben Stokes has admitted that the past three months have been the most challenging period of his captaincy, following England’s disappointing 4-1 defeat in the Ashes in Australia.Despite the setback, Stokes has reaffirmed his commitment to leading the team forward alongside head coach Brendon McCullum and managing director Rob Key, all of whom have retained the backing of the England and Wales Cricket Board.In an emotional Instagram post, Stokes described the mental and emotional toll of leading England through a difficult Ashes campaign.”Being England captain is the greatest honour a player can be given and I do not take it for granted. It has its highs and it has its lows, it makes you want to smile it makes you want to cry. It completely and utterly consumes you and feels like it’s the only thing in your life at times. The last 3 months has without a doubt been the hardest period of my captaincy journey, it’s tested me in so many different ways and I’m sure every other captain has gone through this as well,” Stokes said.Stokes emphasised that the leadership group remains united and determined to improve, ”Baz,Rob and myself have the passion and desire to take this team forward, we are going to give you everything we have, we know we made mistakes along the way and we have learnt from those mistakes, you learn more from failure than success. I have learnt a lot about myself but the most important thing that I want the fans to know is that….” he added.Ben stokes gives a strong and bold message to the cricket fans after his captaincy was questioned post 4-1 ashes loss. Stokes said,” I F*****G love cricket, I F*****G love this team, I F*****G love being England captain and I have got so much more to give to this role and I’m so happy that I get to do it with Baz and Rob.””We all appreciate every single person who supports us. We do what we do for many reasons but one of those reasons is to bring our supporters and fans happiness and and a sense of pride and we will aim to do those things as much as we can in the future, See you all in June for the start of the Test Match summer” he concluded on Instagram.

Why did England struggled in the Ashes Series

England’s defeat in The Ashes was more than just a loss, it was a systemic failure. Poor preparation, including the lack of meaningful warm-up matches, left the team underprepared for Australian conditions. The aggressive “Bazball” approach, once hailed as revolutionary, unravelled quickly after a heavy defeat in Perth, leaving England without a fallback plan.The report quoted by Telegraph sports was the cultural issues within the dressing room which says that, ” There were players in the Ashes who felt McCullum was naturally drawn to those like him who enjoy a beer, a vape and a round of golf. Unintentionally it created a clique that became more apparent under the stress of an Ashes loss and there were players who felt a non-serious environment had cost them the opportunity of a lifetime in Australia.” Since then, a midnight curfew has been introduced, while the ECB is looking to appoint a new national selector after Luke Wright stepped down for family reasons.

Rohit Sharma and Brendon McCullum (Screengrab)

Former India captain Rohit Sharma grabbed plenty of attention at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday night as India national cricket team defeated England cricket team to secure a place in the final of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026.Rohit, who captained India to the T20 World Cup title in the USA and West Indies two years ago, was present at the venue as a special guest. Before the semi-final began, he was involved in the pre-match ceremony, presenting the silverware and handing over the match ball. However, it was his lively interactions with players and staff from both camps that became a talking point even before the contest got underway.The former skipper first spent time with members of the Indian side, catching up with Suryakumar Yadav, Ishan Kishan, Mohammed Siraj and India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel. After that, he walked across to the England dugout, where he met former captain Eoin Morgan and head coach Brendon McCullum.

Morgan and McCullum were both stunned by Rohit’s noticeable physical transformation. The former India captain has reportedly shed close to 10 kilograms as part of his fitness drive, and the change was clearly visible during his appearance at the ground.“In the shape of your life. What’s going on?” Morgan asked Rohit.“Just chilling,” Rohit replied.McCullum, meanwhile, had a humorous reaction when he saw the former opener. “Where’s the rest of you?” he remarked. Rohit responded with a smile, saying, “It’s all gone”.Rohit also shared a brief exchange with Suryakumar Yadav that seemed to lift the batter’s confidence ahead of the high-pressure clash. When Surya asked, “Do you think we’ll be able to pull it off?”, Rohit responded positively: “Yeah, obviously! We played so well in the last match too.” During another conversation, Rohit reassured bowling coach Morne Morkel about the conditions, telling him not to worry as the wind would stay consistent throughout the game.The semi-final marked the third consecutive T20 World Cup knockout meeting between India and England. England had dominated the 2022 clash with a 10-wicket victory before India returned the favour two years later.Thursday’s contest once again produced tense moments, especially when Jacob Bethell threatened to take the game away from India with a powerful innings. However, the match ultimately turned in India’s favour thanks to a superb finish from Jasprit Bumrah, whose final two overs conceded just 14’Where’s the Rest of You?’: Brendon McCullum runs.

Harry Brook celebrates his century during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and Pakistan in Pallekele, Sri Lanka. (AP/PTI)

TimesofIndia.com in Kandy: As the adage goes, “tough times don’t last, tough people do.” It syncs beautifully with Harry Brook.In the past few months, the England white-ball captain has been in the news not for his magnificent batting but for his off-field antics. Last year, during the one-day series against New Zealand, he was involved in an altercation with a nightclub bouncer in Wellington. On the same night of the altercation, Brook and England teammate Jacob Bethell were filmed drinking, and the video was later posted on social media.

Brook then lied to the media, saying that he was on his own when he got punched by the nightclub bouncer on England’s tour of New Zealand that preceded the Ashes. He later conceded that it was a lie, as there were others with him and he lied to protect them. Brook was later fined around £30,000 and was given a final warning for his future conduct by the England Cricket Board (ECB).Brook had a frustrating Ashes Down Under, where he managed to cross fifty only twice in ten innings. The, then 26-year-old, finished the Ashes 2025–26 with 358 runs from five Tests at an average of 39.77.In the last two games of the ongoing T20 World Cup, Brook, who celebrated his birthday a couple of days ago, has shown signs of maturity both with the bat and his acumen in the field, which is pivotal for a great leader.

Harry Brook warms up ahead of the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Super Eight match between England and Pakistan at Pallekele. (Getty Images)

Against Sri Lanka at Pallakele in Kandy, while defending a modest total of 147, his bowling changes and field placements were right on the money. Against Pakistan on Tuesday, it was his bat that did the talking when his team was under immense pressure. Between these two matches, Brook has aged a year and grown in leaps and bounds as a leader.After his sublime century on a track where his fellow teammates struggled, the England white-ball captain admitted that it has been the “hardest” few months for him as a cricketer.“It’s probably been the hardest winter of my life to be honest,” he told reporters after England’s decisive two-wicket win over Pakistan. “There’s been a lot of stuff behind the scenes as well as not behind the scenes, but yes, it was just nice to see some rewards from my hard work away from the ground.”The chosen one

England’s captain Harry Brook leaves the ground after losing his wicket during the T20 World Cup cricket match between England and Pakistan in Pallekele, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2026. (AP)

Brook made his international debut in a T20I match four years ago in the West Indies. Since then, his graph has only gone in an upward direction.And without any doubt, he has been the poster boy of “Bazball”, the ultra-aggressive, high-risk, and positive style of play adopted by the England men’s Test cricket team under captain Ben Stokes and head coach Brendon McCullum.After hitting his maiden T20I hundred on Tuesday night, Brook revealed that it was coach McCullum’s idea that he should bat at No. 3 against Pakistan, citing his good record against them. “Baz is the mastermind there. He had a discussion with me this morning about going up the order and trying to maximise the powerplay and thankfully it paid off,” Brook said with a smile on his face.Under McCullum, Brook first blossomed as a cricketer. Now, the anointed one is developing into a leader as well. McCullum had backed the youngster when he was going through a tough phase. Earlier this month, before the start of the T20 World Cup, McCullum praised the way Harry Brook has dealt with controversies but admitted his white-ball captain is a “work in progress” away from the cricket field.“He’s had a hard time of late off the field, but he’s a tough lad to be able to put that aside and still lead these boys in the manner that he did, and show the tactical nous that he has as a cricketer was outstanding,” McCullum had said after Harry Brook-led England’s 2-1 ODI series victory and a 3-0 clean sweep in T20s against Sri Lanka.“I do sometimes think that people think that Brooky’s not that clever. I couldn’t disagree with that more. He wears his intelligence lightly. He’s got a very good tactical cricket brain.“He’s a work in progress off the field. He’s not alone with that, and that’s our job to help shepherd him through. But on the field, he’s certainly excelling at the moment.”Growing in stature

Harry Brook is first captain to smash century in T20 World Cup; joins Buttler, Malan in elite list of English batters

Harry Brook hit ten fours and four sixes during his sublime knock against Pakistan, and the batter also ran twos nine times, which is something that has never been seen in Brook’s batsmanship.In the last ball of the powerplay, Mohammad Nawaz fired it flat on the stumps. Brook used the depth of the crease to step back and launched the heave straight back over the bowler’s head. There was an oomph about that shot. He did go on to hit three more, but that flat-batted shot sent the signal to the Pakistan camp that, despite them being ahead in the game courtesy of Shaheen Shah Afridi’s three-wicket burst in the powerplay, England were still in the match because their captain was not giving up easily.He did agree that after he got out to Shaheen Shah Afridi and when Nawaz bagged two quick wickets in the 19th over, he started to have a flashback of the Oval Test, where Mohammed Siraj had turned the match around for India.“I thought it was going to be another Oval against India. Thankfully we managed to get over the line and Jof hit that boundary at the end. But yeah, it did get a little bit nervy there and like I said, thankfully we got the win,” he said.

Recently, former England captain Michael Vaughan had slammed Brook for not stepping up in the big match. He did answer Vaughan’s criticism with his knock and then said, “I wasn’t even on my radar to be honest. I just go out there and try and win games of cricket for England and whichever team I’m playing for. Thankfully I’ve managed to do that tonight and we’ve got the main aim which was to get through to the semis.”Brook has also grown as a captain in the dressing room and has earned the respect of the senior pros.After the win against Sri Lanka, left-arm spinner Liam Dawson was all praise for the way the young captain operated the spinners. “I think the way Brookie captained today was phenomenal, how he used us all differently,” Dawson, who picked up three wickets against Pakistan, had said on Sunday.After the win over Pakistan, it was the turn of bowling all-rounder Jamie Overton to heap praise on the ‘skip. “It’s probably one of the best knocks I’ve seen. Full credit to Brookie. He put his hand up today to bat at three and he led from the front today. Hopefully, he can keep going for us into the next few games,” Overton told reporters in the mixed zone.“The way he approaches cricket, it’s a great feeling to be able to be a part of that side. He wants us to go out there and play with a smile on our face and enjoy cricket. That’s when we grew up playing. We wanted to go out and have fun. It feels like we’re having fun out there at the moment. He’s sort of setting the standards of what we want to do, and if he keeps playing like that, we’ll go a long way in this competition,” Overton added.

Pakistan’s Shaheen Shah Afridi shakes hands with England’s captain Harry Brook after bowling the latter out during the T20 World Cup cricket match in Pallekele, Sri Lanka. (AP)

At the post-match press conference, after a while, the question of Jos Buttler’s horrendous form took centre stage. Buttler now has 62 runs in six innings. He has not passed 40 in his last 18 international innings.“He’s a powerhouse of world cricket. He’s done it on every stage. He’s won World Cups in ODIs and T20s, and it’s just a matter of time,” Brook defended his senior pro.“I think people have got to give him a little bit of slack to be honest. He’s played over 500 T20s, he’s played 150 odd for England, and he’s still averaging 35 while striking at 145. He’s arguably our best player, and he’s just not hitting them out of the middle at the minute. But yeah, I feel like people have probably got to cut him a little bit of slack.”In the past three days, Brook has not only grown a year older but also wiser, which is indeed a great sign for England.