Ben Stokes, the former vice-captain of the England Test team, is an all-rounder bowling right-arm fast-medium pace, and batting left-handed. He holds the record for the most runs scored by an individual batsman in the morning session of a Test match. Below are some facts about the English international cricketer:
- Till the age of 14, he was a good rugby player, but decided to choose a career in cricket. He felt he enjoyed cricket more, and that his heart was not in rugby anymore.
- He is from a sporting lineage, with his father, Gerard Stokes, being a renowned former rugby player and coach of New Zealand Rugby Team. He was later appointed as head coach of Workington Town rugby league club.
- During the third Twenty20 International (T20I) match against West Indies at Kensington on March 13, 2014, he was dismissed on duck in his very first delivery, following which he punched the locker in dressing room. As a result, he had to be excluded from ICC World T20 2014, due to his hand fracture.
- This particular incident led to his teammates calling him Rocky, and even as The Hurt Locker. His teammate Alex Hales has given him and Jonny Bairstow a nickname from the Harry Potter series – Weasley Twins.
- However, this is not the first instance of his anger issue, as Stokes had reportedly broken a bone, back in his club cricket days. The only difference – it was fire door back then, and a locker now.
- He has a motivational message – as a tattoo in his left arm that reads “Being the best that you can be is only possible if you desire to be a champion and your fear of failure is non-existent.”
- Stokes holds the record for England’s fastest ever Test double-century, the fastest ever Test match 250, as well as the highest ever score for a Test batsman batting at number six.
- He became the highest-paid overseas player in the history of the Indian Premier League, fetching a record contract of ₹145 million, in the year 2017.
- In the 2019 World Cup match against South Africa, he scored a massive 89 from 79 deliveries, earning the Man of the Match title.
- According to Ian Botham and Andrew Flintoff, both of them the England’s greatest all rounders, Stokes is better than them, with Botham stating “As a player, he’s probably better than I was at 24,” while Flintoff said “I think Stokes has a lot more skill. He could be one of England’s greats.”
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