Ben Stokes
Benjamin Andrew Stokes (born 4 June 1991) is an English international cricketer who is the captain of the England Test 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 leagues around the world. He was part of the England team that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup and 2022 T20 World Cup.Born in Christchurch, 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, top-scoring in England’s innings in the final before batting in the tied Super Over, winning the Man of the Match 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 in 2019. He was appointed captain of England’s Test team in April 2022. He was part of the England team that won the
An all-rounder, Stokes is a left-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm fast bowler. He holds the Test world record for most runs in an innings at number six, scoring 258 against South Africa during England’s 2015–16 tour. In the same Test, he and Jonny Bairstow set the world record for the 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 February 15, 2024.
Early life
Benjamin Andrew Stokes was born on June 4, 1991, in Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of rugby league footballer and coach Gerard Stokes. He has Māori heritage on his mother’s side. In 2003, at the age of 12, Stokes relocated to England when his father was appointed head coach of Workington Town Rugby League Football 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 left school aged 16 with just one GCSE, in physical education. His parents subsequently moved back to New Zealand to reside again in Christchurch.
Domestic career
Stokes made his List A debut for Durham in 2009 at The Oval and managed to take the wicket of the highly experienced batsman Mark Ramprakash 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 (MCC) during the traditional season opener, which for 2010 was taking place at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. 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 debut for Durham when he played in a fixture against Essex. He made his maiden first-class century against Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge 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.[15] 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, having scored 38* and taken 2 wickets in a low-scoring game against Warwickshire.
On 2 January 2015, Stokes joined the Melbourne Renegades of Australia’s Big Bash League for the remainder of the season as a replacement for Jesse Ryder, who was ruled out due to an injury.[18]
On 13 February 2017, Stokes was appointed vice-captain of England’s test team, deputising under Joe Root, 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 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’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 was part of the Northern Superchargers squad for the first four seasons of The Hundred. He made two appearances in the inaugural 2021 season. Despite missing the entire 2022 season of the competition, he was retained by the Superchargers for the third season.He did not feature in 2023 as his workload was managed between the Ashes and World Cup.He was due to make four appearances in the 2024 season however suffered a hamstring injury when batting against Manchester Originals.Stokes opted out of the 2025 season to manage his fitness ahead of the 2025–26 Ashes series.
International career
2011–2012 Ireland, India and New Zealand
Stokes made his senior England debut in a One Day International (ODI) against Ireland in August 2011. Stokes was caught and bowled by Paul Stirling for just three runs and did not bowl; however, he did take a catch.
Stokes was selected for the England squad for the 2013–14 Ashes series against Australia. He became the 658th player to represent England at Test 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
Stokes scored his maiden Test century, making 120 off 195 balls before being caught. In the first innings of the 4th Test he made 14 runs and took the wicket of Shane Watson. In the second innings he scored 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 Steve Smith for 115. He top scored for England with 47 runs in the first innings to help them reach 155 all out. In the second innings he made 32, finishing the series on the losing end of a 5–0 whitewash. Stokes had a solid series overall, finishing as England’s third-highest run scorer with 279 runs and second-highest wicket taker with 15 wickets. He was the only English batsman to score a hundred in the series and was praised for his batting on the fast and bouncy WACA surface against the hostile fast bowling of Mitchell Johnson. His WACA century was described as “the only welcome positive for the future.”
2019 Cricket World Cup
In April 2019, Stokes was named in England’s squad for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
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. He 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, scoring 89 runs in a chase of 286. England ultimately fell short by 64 runs, being bowled out for 221. In a must-win match against India in the next group game, Stokes played a crucial innings, scoring a quick-fire 79 runs in 54 balls, helping England win by 31 runs.
In the final against New Zealand, he scored 84*, including 2 sixes in the final over (one traditional and one from overthrows after a ball bounced off Stokes’ bat to the boundary), to tie the game. He then batted in the super over with Jos Buttler, which again ended in 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.
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, 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 as the Greatest hundred of the decade (2010s).
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.”
2022 T20 World Cup
In 2022 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final, Stokes scored an unbeaten runs which helped England to win the World Cup by defeating Pakistan.
2024: Record-breaking Test 50
Opening the batting in the second innings of the 3rd Test against the West Indies at Edgbaston 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 having hit nine fours and two sixes. Stokes missed the subsequent Test series with Sri Lanka after sustaining a hamstring tear during The Hundred.
In October 2024, 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.
2025: Injury and Recovery
In December 2024, during the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, Stokes suffered a torn left hamstring. Subsequent assessments confirmed the severity of the injury, necessitating surgery in January 2025. As a result, Stokes was ruled out of all cricketing activities for at least three months, missing the SA20 and Champions Trophy. He returned to cricket in May 2025 for England’s home Test with Zimbabwe. Stokes featured in the first four Tests of the series with India, taking 17 wickets and winning two man of the match awards. In the fourth Test at Old Trafford, he scored his first century in two years but sustained a torn shoulder muscle resulting in his omission from the final Test.
International centuries
Test centuries
| No. | Score | Against | Venue | H/A/N | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 120 |  Australia | WACA, Perth | Away | 13 December 2013 | Lost |
| 2 | 101 |  New Zealand | Lord’s, London | Home | 21 May 2015 | Won |
| 3 | 258 |  South Africa | Newlands, Cape Town | Away | 2 January 2016 | Drawn |
| 4 | 128 |  India | Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Rajkot | Away | 16 September 2016 | Drawn |
| 5 | 112 | South Africa | The Oval, London | Home | 27 July 2017 | Won |
| 6 | 100 |  West Indies | Headingley, Leeds | Home | 25 August 2017 | Lost |
| 7 | 115* | Australia | Lord’s, London | Home | 14 August 2019 | Drawn |
| 8 | 135* | Australia | Headingley, Leeds | Home | 22 August 2019 | Won |
| 9 | 120 | South Africa | St George’s Park, Gqeberha | Away | 16 January 2020 | Won |
| 10 | 176 | West Indies | Old Trafford, Manchester | Home | 16 July 2020 | Won |
| 11 | 120 | West Indies | Kensington Oval, Bridgetown | Away | 16 March 2022 | Drawn |
| 12 | 103 | South Africa | Old Trafford, Manchester | Home | 25 August 2022 | Won |
| 13 | 155 | Australia | Lord’s, London | Home | 28 June 2023 | Lost |
| 14 | 141 | India | Old Trafford, Manchester | Home | 23 July 2025 | Drawn |
One Day International centuries
Bangladesh
NetherlandsPersonal life
Stokes became engaged to Clare Ratcliffe in 2013. They married in East Brent, Somerset, in October 2017. They have two children. Stokes has a tattoo of a family of lions, symbolizing his own family, covering his entire back. He also has Māori Ngāpuhi heritage, which is represented in one of his tattoos. Stokes and his mother received damages in 2021 from The Sun, which had previously run a front-page story about a family tragedy that was argued not to be in the public interest. In 2025, it was reported that Stokes had quit alcohol, having not touched it since January 2.
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, achieved in 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 – 399 runs, achieved with Jonny Bairstow against South Africa.
- 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 innings – 17 (for Durham against Worcestershire in May 2022).
- Most runs in an ODI innings for England – 182 runs.
Honours
ICC Cricket World Cup – 2019
ICC T20 World Cup – 2022
- 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, achieved in 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 – 399 runs, achieved with Jonny Bairstow against South Africa.
- 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 innings – 17 (for Durham against Worcestershire in May 2022).
- Most runs in an ODI innings for England – 182 runs.
