Ben Stokes Cricketer

  Born

June 04, 1991 (32 years)

Birth Place

Canterbury, New Zealand

Nickname

Stokes

Role

Batting Allrounder

Batting Style

Left Handed Bat

Bowling Style

Right-arm fast-medium.

Teams

New Zealand, Durham, England, England Lions, England Cricket Board XI, Melbourne Renegades, Rising Pune Supergiant, Canterbury, Rajasthan Royals, Team Stokes, Team Morgan, Northern Superchargers, Chennai Super Kings.

Overview

Ben Stokes is one of the most dynamic all-rounders of the contemporary age, and his enthusiasm is contagious when playing cricket. Being an aggressive character, he is highly passionate about whatever he does, therefore there is rarely a dull time when he is around. Stokes is an attacking southpaw who can play a long innings and has a knack for huge hits. He is also just as skilled with the ball. He has a tendency for coming up with big plays for his side when nothing else seems to be working. He can bowl at a fairly high pace.

Benjamin Andrew Stokes was born in Christchurch, New Zealand, on June 4, 1991. His father, Gerald Stokes, was a rugby league player who played for New Zealand in international competitions. His extraordinary potential was evident from a young age, so it came as no surprise when, at the age of 18, he signed a two-year county deal with Durham. In 2009, he took on Surrey in a one-day match and celebrated by snaring Mark Ramprakash with his third delivery in FC cricket. He performed admirably with the bat and the ball in his two youth Test matches against Bangladesh. When he scored a century against India in the 2010 U-19 World Cup, more people became aware of his abilities. 

In the 2010 season opening in Abu Dhabi against MCC, he made his FC debut, reaching his first fifty and taking a wicket.

Due to his steady play, Stokes became a household name in the country, thus it came as no surprise that he was selected for the England ODI team for both the home series against India and the one-off match against Ireland. Due to a broken finger, he was limited to playing as a batter. After struggling in the ODI series against India, he was left off of the ensuing away tour of India. Stokes made a remarkable recovery from the severe injury, scoring 827 runs and taking 37 wickets at an average of 21.47. 

In the second Test, Stokes made his debut. In the third Test, he scored an incredible first-ever century. In the opening half of the fifth Test, Stokes struck six sixes and top scored with 47 runs to help England stagger to 155. Stokes had a tremendous series, finishing as England's second-highest wicket taker with 15 wickets and third-highest run scorer with 279 runs, despite the embarrassing 5-0 rout.

Following a run of poor performances and a temporary absence from England's squad, Stokes demonstrated his skill and quality in a thrilling century against New Zealand at Lord's during a Test match. Additionally, he was at his best at Trent Bridge against Australia, where he hit five wickets in a row to help the hosts win the Ashes again. In Cape Town during the tour of South Africa, Stokes produced a sparkling display of skill to smash the fastest double ton by an Englishman in Test cricket history. Regretfully, in the final over of the World T20 in India, Carlos Brathwaite's wide willow found him, as he hit four sixes in the final over at Eden Gardens. As West Indies won the series, Stokes was devastated. Stokes then suffered a knee injury while participating in a Leeds Test match against Sri Lanka.

In spite of the World T20 setback, Stokes' career has developed calmly. He was sidelined by injury for most of the domestic season, but he made a comeback for the subcontinental tour of Bangladesh and India.

He performed a little bit better with the ball than the bat, particularly when he could get a reverse swing. For Stokes, a century and five wickets was a fitting way to round up a challenging 2016. After a respectable Champions Trophy, in which England lost in the quarterfinals, tragedy befell Stokes just when it looked like he had everything he needed. His lack of discipline cost him dearly more than once during his cricket career, and this time it was the worst problem he had ever encountered. Due to an incident that occurred at the Bristol nightclub, the ECB placed him on temporary suspension. It dealt a severe damage to England's Ashes campaign, which ultimately resulted in a crushing defeat of 0–4.