Stokes strikes twice on Durham return as the road back to Lord's opens at New Road
Ben Stokes is back. England's Test captain rolled up at New Road for Durham's County Championship Division Two match with Worcestershire, won the toss, chose to bowl, and was straight into the action with the new ball. It was his first competitive game since England's Ashes campaign ended in Sydney in January, and he ended the day with two wickets for 40 from 14 overs.
Eight balls in, the first wicket lands
It took just eight deliveries for Stokes to make a mark. Daniel Lategan was tempted into edging behind for the opening wicket of his spell. The second came late on after an hour-long delay, Stokes pinning Brett D'Oliveira's off stump with the very first ball he sent down once play resumed. Worcestershire eventually closed the day on 199 for 7.
From Durham nets to surgery, then back to first slip
This comeback was supposed to begin a month ago. In February, while helping out with Durham's academy, Stokes was struck flush in the face by a ball off a youth-team batter and needed reconstructive surgery on a fractured cheekbone. He later said he was "lucky" to be alive, that "a couple of inches one way or the other" and the conversation about him would be a very different one.
The injury wiped out his plan to start the Championship season in the Durham XI. Head coach Ryan Campbell told reporters that the club intend to manage Stokes gently across this fixture, with somewhere around 20 to 25 overs across the four days the realistic ceiling. The point is the bigger picture: get the body fit for international cricket.
That bigger picture is Lord's, June 4
England's home summer opens with a three-Test Rothesay series against New Zealand. The first Test is at Lord's from June 4 to 8, the second at The Oval from June 17 to 21, and the third at Trent Bridge from June 25 to 29. Stokes is set to lead, and the selectors will look at his Durham appearances, including a follow-up against Kent on May 15, to gauge what workload he can carry into the Tests.
England sit seventh in the current World Test Championship standings after the 4-1 reverse in Australia. A summer against New Zealand and a later series against Pakistan is the platform Stokes will use to push his side back up the table. Two wickets for 40 in a low-key County Championship Friday at Worcester is not the loud entry his Bazball years have made you expect, but for an England red-ball setup just beaten 4-1 in Australia, it is exactly the quiet step they wanted.
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