Ben Stokes
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Benjamin Andrew Stokes (born 4 June 1991) is an English international
cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...
er who is the captain of the
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
team. Stokes has played for England in all three formats. Stokes is regarded as one of England's greatest all-rounders in the history of the sport. In domestic cricket, he represents Durham and has played in multiple
Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...
leagues around the world. He was part of the England team that won the
2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...
and 2022 T20 World Cup. Born in
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
, New Zealand, Stokes moved to England as a child. He made his ODI and T20I debuts in 2011, and his Test debut in 2013. He was part of the England team that won the
2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...
, top-scoring in England's innings in the
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
before batting in the tied Super Over, winning the
Man of the Match In team sport, a player of the match award (also known as man of the match or woman of the match) is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chose ...
award. He was named the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2019, 2020 and 2022, and won the ICC Award for Best Men's Cricketer and
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award is the main award of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony, which takes place each December. The winner is the sportsperson, judged by a public vote, to have achieved the most that year. The ...
in 2019. He was appointed captain of England's Test team in April 2022. He was part of the England team that won the 2022 T20 World Cup, top-scoring in the final. An
all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are cons ...
, Stokes is a left-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm
fast bowler Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...
. He holds the Test world record for most runs in an innings at number six, scoring 258 against
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
during England's 2015–16 tour. In the same Test, he and
Jonny Bairstow Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who played internationally for England cricket team, England in all formats as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batter. In domestic cricket, he has played for Yorkshire County C ...
set the world record for highest sixth-wicket stand in Tests, at 399. In February 2023, he set a new record for the total number of sixes hit in a Test career, surpassing the previous tally of 107 set by his coach at the time, Brendon McCullum. He played his 100th test match against India on Feb 15, 2024.


Early life

Benjamin Andrew Stokes was born on 4 June 1991 in
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
, New Zealand, the son of
rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
footballer and coach Gerard Stokes (known as 'Ged'), and has some Māori ancestry. In 2003, at the age of 12, Stokes relocated to England when his father, Gerard 'Ged' Stokes, accepted the position of head coach for the Workington Town rugby league club. The family settled in the West Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where Ben attended Cockermouth School. During this period, he developed his cricketing skills with the local Cockermouth Cricket Club, contributing to their North Lancashire & Cumbria Cricket League Premier Division Title win in 2006 at just 15 years old. He dropped out of the state school aged 16 with just one
GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...
, in
physical education Physical education is an academic subject taught in schools worldwide, encompassing Primary education, primary, Secondary education, secondary, and sometimes tertiary education. It is often referred to as Phys. Ed. or PE, and in the United Stat ...
. He won the North Lancashire & Cumbria Cricket League Premier Division Title with the club as a 15 year old in 2006. His parents subsequently moved back to New Zealand to reside again in Christchurch.


Domestic career

Stokes made his
List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...
debut for Durham in 2009 at
The Oval The Oval, currently named for sponsorship reasons as the Kia Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, located in the borough of Lambeth, in south London. The Oval has been the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club sinc ...
and managed to take the wicket of the highly experienced batsman
Mark Ramprakash Mark Ravin Ramprakash (born 5 September 1969) is an English former cricketer and cricket coach. Outside of cricket, Ramprakash won the Strictly Come Dancing series 4, fourth series of ''Strictly Come Dancing'' in 2006. He is currently the Pr ...
with only his third delivery in professional cricket. He played in two youth Tests against Bangladesh U19 during 2009, in which he made a half-century and took a few wickets. He then went on to play in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, during which he scored a century against the India Under-19 team. Stokes made his first-class debut for Durham against the
Marylebone Cricket Club The Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's, Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London, England. The club was the governing body of cricket from 1788 to 1989 and retain ...
(MCC) during the traditional season opener, which for 2010 was taking place at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in
Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...
. During that match, he bagged a half-century and took one wicket. At the start of the 2010 County Cricket Season, he also made his
Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...
debut for Durham when he played in a fixture against
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
. He made his maiden first-class century against
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
at
Trent Bridge Trent Bridge Cricket Ground is a cricket ground mostly used for Test cricket, Test, One-day cricket, One-Day International and county cricket located in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, just across the River Trent from the city of Nott ...
on 13 May 2010. He has also featured for Durham in the Clydesdale Bank 40-over competition. Durham's continuing problems with many players becoming injured at the start of the 2010 season meant that Stokes continued playing in all forms of the game for Durham. Having had a very successful debut season in first-class cricket, he was given a place in the England Performance Programme and travelled to Australia during the 2010–11 Ashes. Stokes was a key member of the Durham side that won the 2013 County Championship, and was also named Man of the Match in the final of the 2014 Royal London One-Day Cup Final at
Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket List of Test cricket grounds, venue in St John's Wood, Westminster. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex C ...
, having scored 38* and taken 2 wickets in a low-scoring game against
Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...
. On 2 January 2015, Stokes joined the
Melbourne Renegades Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket club based in Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. They compete in the Australian Twenty20 cricket competit ...
of Australia's
Big Bash League The Big Bash League (BBL), also known as the KFC Big Bash League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Twenty20 cricket league in Australia. Established in 2011 by Cricket Australia, the Big Bash League replaced the previous competitio ...
for the remainder of the season as a replacement for Jesse Ryder, who was ruled out due to an injury. On 13 February 2017, Stokes was appointed vice-captain of England's test team, deputising under
Joe Root Joseph Edward Root, (born 30 December 1990) is an English international cricketer, who plays for the England cricket team, English cricket team and formerly captained the Test team. He also represents Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire ...
, who was made captain the same day. On 6 May 2022, Stokes marked his return to Durham with a record-breaking 161 from 88 balls on day two of the County Championship game against
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
that included him scoring 34 runs in a single over. In said over, Stokes hit five consecutive sixes but failed to make clean contact with the final delivery of the over, getting only a one-bounce four causing him to miss out on becoming only the third cricketer in history to score six sixes in an over of first-class cricket. However, the innings still surpassed
Paul Collingwood Paul David Collingwood (born 26 May 1976) is an English cricket coach and former player, who played in all three formats of the game internationally for England cricket team, England. He played for Durham County Cricket Club. Collingwood was a ...
's record for the fastest first-class century by a Durham player and the record for the most sixes hit in a County Championship innings. Stokes has been part of the Northern Superchargers squad since the inaugural season of The Hundred in
2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...
but has only made two appearances for them so far. Despite missing the entire 2022 season of the competition, he was retained by the Superchargers on 15 February 2023 ahead of the coming season.


Indian Premier League

In February 2017, Stokes was bought by Rising Pune Supergiant to play in the
Indian Premier League The Indian Premier League (IPL) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in India, organised by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Founded in 2007, it features ten city-based Professional sports league organization, fr ...
during the 2017 season. He made his maiden Twenty20 century against Gujarat Lions, hitting 103
not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...
from 63 balls, including hitting seven fours and six sixes. He was named as
Most Valuable Player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...
for the 2017 season. For the 2018 season he moved to Rajasthan Royals having been bought for £1.7million, the most expensive player in the 2018 IPL auction. In October 2020, he scored 107 not out for Rajasthan Royals as part of an unbeaten partnership of 152 with Sanju Samson. During the 2021 IPL, Stokes suffered a finger injury which ruled him out from the entire season after playing in only one match. He pulled out of the 2022 edition as he wanted to focus on his country's Test team. He was bought by
Chennai Super Kings The Chennai Super Kings, also known as CSK, are a professional Twenty20 cricket team based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, that competes in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The team was one of the eight debut franchises when the league was establ ...
to play in the IPL 2023 season for INR. 16.25 Crore (£1.6 million) in the IPL auction held on 23 December 2022.


International career


2011–2012 Ireland, India and New Zealand

Stokes made his senior England debut in a
One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...
(ODI) against
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
in August 2011. Stokes was caught and bowled by
Paul Stirling Paul Robert Stirling (born 3 September 1990) is an Irish cricketer. Stirling is the opening batsman for the Ireland cricket team and an occasional right-arm, off-break bowler. He is one of the top 10 run scorers in T20 internationals. He was o ...
for just three runs and did not bowl; however, he did take a catch.


2013–14 Ashes series

Stokes was selected for the England squad for the
2013–14 Ashes series The 2013–14 Ashes (named Commonwealth Bank Ashes Series for sponsorship reasons) was a Test cricket series between England and Australia. The five venues for the series were the Brisbane Cricket Ground, the Adelaide Oval, the WACA Ground, th ...
against
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
. He became the 658th player to represent England at
Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
level. He made his debut in the 2nd Test and took the wickets of Michael Clarke and Peter Siddle before contributing 1 run in England's first innings. In the second innings, he made 28 runs off 90 balls in England's loss. He was selected in the 3rd Test and took the wicket of Brad Haddin, he then made 18 off 57 deliveries. In Australia's second innings he bowled Michael Clarke and took Steve Smith's wicket. In England's second innings he made his maiden Test century scoring 120 off 195 balls before being caught. In the first innings of the 4th Test he made 14 runs, then managed to get Shane Watson out. In the second innings he hit 19 runs and took the wicket of David Warner in England's loss. Stokes took a career-best 6 wickets for 99 runs in the first innings of the 5th Test, including the major wickets of captain Clarke for 10 and top-scorer for the innings Steve Smith for 115. Stokes top scored for England with 47 runs in the first innings to help England limp to 155 all out. In the second innings he made 32 and finished the series on the losing end of a 5–0 whitewash. Stokes enjoyed a solid series, however, finishing as England's third-highest run scorer with 279 runs and also second-highest wicket taker with 15 wickets. Stokes was the only English batsman to score a hundred in the series. Stokes was praised for his batting efforts on a typical fast and bouncy WACA surface against the hostile
fast bowling Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is a type of bowling in cricket, in which the ball is delivered at high speed. The fastest bowlers bowl the ball at over . Practitioners of fast bowling are known as fast bowlers or quicks. Also ...
of Mitchell Johnson at the height of his bowling powers. ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' described Stokes's WACA century as "the only welcome positive for the future."


2015 Ashes

In the one off T20I against Australia, Stokes took figures of 1–29 as England won by five runs. Stokes played in all five ODIs against Australia, his best performance with the ball coming in the second game of the series where he took figures of 3–60, although England lost the match by 59 runs. During the second ODI match of the series against Australia, Stokes was given out
obstructing the field Obstructing the field is one of the ten methods of dismissing a batsman in the sport of cricket. Either batsman can be given out if he wilfully attempts to obstruct or distract the fielding side by word or action. It is Law 37 of the Laws of ...
. He became only the sixth batsman to be given out in this manner in an ODI game. While Stokes never took another wicket in the series, his batting did improve. He scored 41 in the fourth ODI which England won by 3 wickets. Although England lost the final ODI to lose the series 3–2, Stokes was one of England's better performers, scoring 42 of their 138 runs.


2015 Pakistan

Stokes was named in the England test squad for the tour against Pakistan hosted in the UAE. In the first test in Abu Dhabi, he took 4–57 with the ball in Pakistan's first innings before himself scoring 57 with the bat in England's first innings; the match ultimately ended in a draw when bad light stopped play on the final day. In the second match of the series Stokes was ineffective, taking just one wicket in the match and making scores of 4 and 13 with the bat as England suffered a 127-run defeat. He suffered a shoulder injury in the third and final test in Sharjah, but still batted at number 11 as England ultimately lost the match and with it the series.


2015–16 South Africa

Stokes returned to full fitness to take his place in England's winter tour of South Africa. While Stokes did not make a stand out contribution in the first test, England won by 241 runs. In England's first innings of the second test in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
, Stokes arrived at the crease with England 167–4, facing a hat-trick ball from
Kagiso Rabada Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his ...
. Stokes then hit a career-best score of 258, which included 30 fours and 11 sixes. It was the second fastest double century in the history of test cricket (from 167 balls). His sixth wicket stand with
Jonny Bairstow Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who played internationally for England cricket team, England in all formats as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batter. In domestic cricket, he has played for Yorkshire County C ...
(who himself scored 150 not out) of 399 was a new world record, of which 196 were scored in 25 overs in the morning session on Day 2 alone. Stokes' innings was ended in bizarre fashion, when after hitting two successive sixes, he was dropped by
AB de Villiers Abraham Benjamin de Villiers (born 17 February 1984) is a South African former international cricketer. He is regarded as one of the greatest batters of his generation. de Villiers was named as the ODI Player of the Year three times during h ...
only to be run out having paused between the wickets. The match finished in a draw with the batsmen dominating the game. In the third Test Stokes took five wickets as England won, securing a series victory for England. The fourth and final match of the series was won by South Africa, although Stokes did take another five wickets, including 4–86 in South Africa's first innings. In the first Test against India, Stokes made 128 in England's first innings to help them reach 537. He took one wicket in India's first innings, before making an unbeaten 29. The match ended in a draw. In the second Test he finished with figures of 1–73 in India's first innings, before making 70 with the bat. He was out for six in England's second innings as they lost by 246 runs. In the third Test he made 29 in England's first innings, and then took 5–73 in India's first innings. After making five in the second innings, Stokes failed to pick up another wicket as England suffered another defeat. In the fourth Test he made 31 in England's first innings score of 400, but failed to pick up a wicket or make an impression in England's second innings as they lost by an innings and 36 runs. In the final match of the series, Stokes picked up just one wicket and scored 29 runs in the match as England lost by an innings and 75 runs. For his performances in 2016, he was named in the World Test XI by the ICC and ESPNcricinfo. He was also named in the ODI XI of the year 2016 by ESPNcricinfo.


2017 South Africa, Champions Trophy and West Indies

Stokes scored his second ODI century against South Africa in the lead-up to the Champions Trophy, and in the tournament itself his third, against Australia. He was also named as part of the 'Team of the Tournament' at the 2017 Champions Trophy by the ICC. Stokes scored 299 runs, including a century at The Oval, and took 7 wickets in a four Test series against South Africa. In a three Test series against West Indies, he scored 228 runs and took 9 wickets. At Headingley, in the second Test, he scored his fourth Test century, and at Lord's in the third, he took a career best 6–22 with the ball.


2019 Cricket World Cup

In April 2019, Stokes was named in England's squad for the
2019 Cricket World Cup The 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 12th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament was hosted bet ...
. In the opening match of the tournament against South Africa, he made a score of 89 runs from 79 balls, claimed two wickets, ran out Dwaine Pretorius and took two catches to be declared "Man of the Match" in a comprehensive 104-run win for England. His catch to dismiss Andile Phehlukwayo has been described as "one of the greatest catches of all time". Stokes produced multiple standout performances with the bat later in the group stage. Stokes was left stranded on 82*, as England were bowled out for 212 in a surprise 20-run defeat to Sri Lanka. He again proved to be the only resistance to Australia's bowling attack in their following match, by scoring 89 runs in a chase of 286. England ultimately fell short by 64 runs as they were bowled out for 221. In a must-win match against India in the following group match, Stokes played a very important innings, scoring a quick-fire 79 runs in 54 balls, as England won by 31 runs. In the
final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...
against New Zealand, he scored 84*, including 2 sixes in the final over (one traditional and one due to overthrows after a ball bounced off Stokes' bat to the boundary), to tie the game. He then batted in the
super over Super Over, also known as a one-over eliminator or a one over per side eliminator, is a Tiebreaker, tie-breaking method used in Limited overs cricket, limited-overs cricket matches. If a match ends in a "Result (cricket)#Tie, tie", it proceeds t ...
with
Jos Buttler Joseph Charles Buttler (born 8 September 1990), known as Jos Buttler, is an English international cricket, cricketer and former captain of the England cricket team, national team. He plays for Lancashire County Cricket Club, Lancashire in dom ...
, which again was a tie, but England won the match on the boundary countback rule then in place. For this performance, he was named man of the match for the second time in the tournament. He was named in the "Team of the Tournament" for the 2019 World Cup by the ICC.


2019 Ashes

Faced with an incisive Australian bowling attack and Bradmanesque batting contribution from Steve Smith, Stokes played a pivotal role in enabling England ultimately to draw the 2019 Ashes series 2–2 (although Australia thereby retained the urn). In the third test at
Headingley Headingley is a suburb of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, approximately two miles out of the city centre, to the north west along the A660 road. Headingley is the location of the Beckett Park campus of Leeds Beckett University and Headingley ...
, England appeared to be heading for certain defeat after they were bowled out for 67 in their first innings. Stokes managed to overturn an overnight Australian lead, hitting 11 fours and 8 sixes to win with an unbeaten 135* in a record pursuit of 359. His innings has been described as "one of the greatest innings of all time" and the "greatest ever played by an Englishman". Stokes's innings was rated by
Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...
as the Greatest hundred of the decade (2010's). He was named as England's player of the series as he ended the series as England's top run-scorer with 441 runs with 2 hundreds and 2 fifties, while also taking 8 wickets.
"It's the same with success and failure. There's always the momentum thing, but you just have to put whatever happened in the past behind you."


2019 New Zealand

Stokes continued on his good form into the tour of New Zealand. He made scores of 91 and 28 as England slumped to an innings defeat in the first test match of the series. He then made 26 runs in his only innings in the next test, as England drew the match to lose the series. He was named as the 2019 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, ICC Player of the Year at the 2019 ICC Awards.


2019–20 South Africa

Stokes' form continued into 4-test match tour of South Africa, as he was named player of the series after scoring 318 runs and taking 10 wickets. Following defeat in the first test, Stokes put in a "man of the match" performance in the 2nd test. He made scores of 47 and 72, with the latter from only 47 balls, to set South Africa a target of 437. Stokes then managed to break the host's resistance, as they fought to draw the game, by taking the final 3 wickets to bowl them out for 248 runs to level the series. In the following match, his first innings score of 120 was crucial in setting up an innings win for England, which meant they took a 2–1 lead in the series going into the final test match. Stokes only made 2 and 28 runs in the final test, but he did take 4 wickets in the match, as England won by 191 runs to secure a second consecutive away series win against South Africa.


2020 West Indies

On 17 June 2020, Stokes was included in England's 30-man squad to start training behind closed doors for the
Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...
series against the West Indies. Stokes was named as captain for one of the teams in the official inter-squad warm-up match. In the absence of regular captain Joe Root (due to the birth of his child), it was announced that as vice-captain, Stokes would therefore captain England for the first time. Prior to being named captain, Stokes had never led a side in a first-class,
List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...
or
Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...
cricket match. In the first Test, Stokes took his 150th wicket, to become the sixth cricketer to score 4,000 runs and take 150 wickets in Tests, and in the first innings of the second Test, Stokes scored 176 runs, to record his tenth century in Test cricket.


2021 Stand-in captain, break, and the Ashes

During the 2021 season, the England limited-over squad suffered a COVID outbreak at the end of a limited overs series against Sri Lanka. The whole squad, including the captain Eoin Morgan, had to self-isolate just before a home series against Pakistan. Stokes had not played against Sri Lanka due to injury, leaving him as the most senior player for the Pakistan ODI matches, for which he was named captain. He led the inexperienced team, in which he had almost four times as many ODI appearances as the rest of the team combined, to a nine-wicket victory in the first match. In the next game of the series against Pakistan, Stokes played in his 100th ODI match. On 30 July 2021, it was announced that Stokes would take an "indefinite break" from cricket. In October 2021, Stokes was added to England's squad for the 2021–22 Ashes series in Australia.


2022: Test captaincy and T20 World Cup

On 28 April 2022, Stokes was named as England men's Test captain after
Joe Root Joseph Edward Root, (born 30 December 1990) is an English international cricketer, who plays for the England cricket team, English cricket team and formerly captained the Test team. He also represents Yorkshire County Cricket Club, Yorkshire ...
's resignation. With new coach Brendon McCullum, Stokes developed a new style of play which would come to be known as Bazball, noted for its fearless and entertaining nature. In June 2022, Stokes started his captaincy with the 3–0 clean sweep of New Zealand cricket team in England in 2022, He scored 194 runs in 5 innings at an average of 48.50 In July 2022, England defeated the South African team 2–1 in Test series, Stokes named Player of the Series, he scored 149 runs in 4 innings at an average of 37.25 and picked up 10 wickets at a bowling average of 15.70


ODI retirement and return

On 18 July 2022, Stokes announced that he would retire from ODI cricket following the first match of the series against South Africa, citing the physical and mental demands of playing all three formats. On 16 August 2023, it was announced Stokes would come out of ODI retirement and was named part of England's squad for the
2023 Cricket World Cup The 2023 ICC Men's Cricket World Cup was the 13th edition of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was hosted from 5 October to 19 ...
.


2022 T20 World Cup

In 2022 ICC Men's T20 World Cup Final, Stokes scored an unbeaten 52* runs which helped England to win the World Cup by defeating
Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
.


2022 Pakistan

Following the 2022 Pakistan floods, Stokes confirmed that he would donate his match fees from the Pakistan test series to the flood appeal. Stokes added that "hopefully this donation can go towards the rebuilding of areas of Pakistan most affected by the flooding".


2023 Cricket World Cup

Ben Stokes came out of ODI retirement to play in the 2023 Cricket World Cup. He failed to make impact in the initial games, before scoring a century against Netherlands. He scored 108 runs off 84 balls to win the Man of the Match award.


2024: Record-breaking Test 50

Opening the batting in the second innings of the 3rd Test against the
West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
at
Edgbaston Edgbaston () is a suburb of Birmingham, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It lies immediately south-west of Birmingham city centre, and was historically in Warwickshire. The Ward (electoral subdivision), wards of Edgbaston and Nort ...
on 28 July 2024, Stokes scored the fastest Test half-century by an English player. He reached his 50 off just 24 balls, surpassing Ian Botham's record set in 1981 by four deliveries, and finished on 57
not out In cricket, a batsman is not out if they come out to bat in an innings and have not been dismissed by the end of an innings. The batsman is also ''not out'' while their innings is still in progress. Occurrence At least one batter is not out at ...
having hit nine fours and two sixes. In October 2024, Ben Stokes committed to a new two-year central contract with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), extending his tenure until the autumn of 2026. This extension underscores his pivotal role in the national team and aligns with the ECB's strategy to secure the services of key players through significant upcoming series, including the away Ashes in Australia. 2025: Injury and Recovery In December 2024, during the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, Ben Stokes suffered a torn left hamstring. Subsequent assessments confirmed the severity of the injury, necessitating surgery scheduled for January 2025. As a result, Stokes was ruled out of all cricketing activities for at least three months, missing key series and tournaments during this period. Despite this setback, he expressed determination to return stronger, stating, "I ain't holding back".


International centuries


Test centuries


One Day International centuries


Personal life

Stokes became engaged to Clare Ratcliffe in 2013. They married in East Brent,
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
in October 2017. They have two children. Stokes has a tattoo of a family of lions, symbolising his own family, covering his entire back. Stokes has Maori
Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (also known as Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimate ...
heritage, which is also shown in one of his tattoos. Stokes and his mother received damages in 2021 from ''The Sun'', who in 2019 had run a front-page story about a family tragedy which was argued not to be in the public interest. In 2025, it was reported that Stokes had quit alcohol having reportedly not touched it since 2 January.


Nightclub incident and affray charge

Following the third ODI against West Indies at Bristol in September 2017, Stokes was arrested after becoming involved in a street brawl near a nightclub with two men, at which teammate
Alex Hales Alexander Daniel Hales (born 3 January 1989) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed opening batter who represented the England cricket team across all formats and played domestically for Nottinghamshire. He made his One Day International ...
was also present. Stokes gave Ryan Hale, a former soldier, a 1.5-inch superficial laceration and bruising to his forehead and left him with concussion. Ryan Ali, an emergency services worker, suffered a fracture to the left of his face, a swollen left eye and a laceration above his eyebrow. He also had a cracked lower left molar. This incident led to both players missing the fourth game of the series, and a hand injury sustained in the brawl also ruled Stokes out of the final game. He also missed the 2017–18 Ashes and the second Test match against India due to the incident and the subsequent trial. He lost his apparel sponsorship with New Balance over these incidents. Stokes was charged on 15 January 2018 with
affray In many legal jurisdictions related to English common law, affray is a public order offence consisting of the fighting of one or more persons in a public place to the terror (in ) of ordinary people. Depending on their actions, and the laws ...
along with the two other men, and appeared before Bristol Magistrates' Court on 13 February 2018. During the trial, which started on 6 August 2018, Stokes said he was defending a gay couple from
homophobic Homophobia encompasses a range of negative attitudes and feelings toward homosexuality or people who identify or are perceived as being lesbian, Gay men, gay or bisexual. It has been defined as contempt, prejudice, aversion, hatred, or ant ...
abuse from the other two men. He was acquitted on 14 August. The couple thanked Stokes afterwards for defending them, saying that he "didn't deserve being put through a trial". In September 2018, Stokes was charged with bringing the game into disrepute by the
England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board, aka ECB, is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test ...
(ECB) over the incident in Bristol and social media posts. Stokes pleaded guilty to the charges, and in December 2018 was fined £30,000 and banned for eight matches, an exclusion which he had already served by that time.


Mental health

Stokes has been open about the mental health issues he has faced during his career. In June 2021 Stokes announced an indefinite break from cricket to focus on his 'mental wellbeing'. He later explained the combination of feeling let down over the ECB's handling of the Bristol nightclub incident, the impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, and the death of his father Ged Stokes in December 2020 due to brain cancer had led him to suffer from
anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...
and
panic attack Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear and Comfort, discomfort that may include palpitations, otherwise defined as a Tachycardia, rapid, Arrhythmia, irregular Heart rate, heartbeat, Hyperhidrosis, sweating, chest pain or discomfort, s ...
s. As of August 2022 Stokes said he was still speaking to his
therapist A therapist is a person who offers any kinds of therapy. Therapists are trained professionals in the field of any types of services like psychologists, social workers, counselors, etc. They are helpful in counseling individuals for various mental ...
, and continuing to take anti-anxiety medication. Consequently, part of the ethos of the Bazball style under Stokes has been an increased focus on mental wellbeing and conditioning of the players.


Records and achievements

* Man of the Match in the final of the 2019 Cricket World Cup. * Second-fastest Test double hundred in terms of balls faced. * Fastest 250 in Tests for which he took only 196 balls. * Second highest number of sixes in a Test innings – 11 sixes * Highest number of sixes in a Test career * Most runs in a Test innings at the sixth position – 258 runs * Most runs in the first session of a day in Tests – 130 runs * Highest Test partnership for the sixth wicket. He achieved this feat against
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
when he made a partnership of 399 runs with
Jonny Bairstow Jonathan Marc Bairstow (born 26 September 1989) is an English cricketer who played internationally for England cricket team, England in all formats as a right-handed wicket-keeper-batter. In domestic cricket, he has played for Yorkshire County C ...
. *Became the second cricketer after Ian Botham to have over 4,000 runs and over 100 wickets in Tests for England. *Highest number of sixes in a
County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...
innings – 17 (for Durham against
Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
in May 2022) *Most runs in an ODI innings for England – 182 runs


Honours

England
ICC Cricket World Cup The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup is a quadrennial world cup for cricket in One Day International (ODI) format, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). The tournament is one of the world's most viewed sporting events and consid ...
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
ICC T20 World Cup
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
* He was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of
Allerdale Allerdale was a non-metropolitan district of Cumbria, England, with Borough status in England and Wales, borough status. Its council – Allerdale Borough Council – was based in Workington, and the borough had a population of 96,422 at the ...
on 25 September 2019. * He was awarded the
2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...
BBC Sports Personality of the Year The BBC Sports Personality of the Year is an awards ceremony that takes place annually in December. Devised by Paul Fox in 1954, it originally consisted of just a single award of the same name. Several new awards have been introduced, and cu ...
in Aberdeen. * Stokes was appointed
Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(OBE) in the
2020 New Year Honours The 2020 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebratio ...
for services to cricket. * Cricket World Cup Winner 2019 *He was named as the ''
Wisden ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...
'' Leading Cricketer in the World in the 2020, 2021 and 2023 editions of the ''Almanack''. *Named as the Indian Premier League's '' Player of the tournament '' for the 2017 season.


References


External links


Official website

Athlete profile of Ben Stokes
on Redbull.com *
Ben Stokes
at
Durham County Cricket Club Durham County Cricket Club (rebranded as Durham Cricket in February 2019) is one of eighteen first-class cricket, first-class county cricket, county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the Historic c ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stokes, Ben 1991 births Living people Cricketers from Christchurch English cricketers England Test cricketers England One Day International cricketers England Twenty20 International cricketers Durham cricketers NBC Denis Compton Award recipients English people of Māori descent English people of New Zealand descent New Zealand people of Māori descent New Zealand people of English descent Ngāpuhi people Wisden Cricketers of the Year ICC Cricketer of the Year New Zealand emigrants to England Melbourne Renegades cricketers English expatriate cricketers in Australia Rising Pune Supergiant cricketers Canterbury cricketers Rajasthan Royals cricketers Chennai Super Kings cricketers English expatriate cricketers in India Cricketers at the 2019 Cricket World Cup Cricketers at the 2023 Cricket World Cup Sportspeople from Cockermouth New Zealand cricketers Cricketers from Cumbria BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Officers of the Order of the British Empire Wisden Leading Cricketers in the World England Test cricket captains Northern Superchargers cricketers