Ben Stokes

Benjamin Andrew Stokes (born 4 June 1991) is an English international cricketer who is the captain of the England Test team and plays for the England team in ODIs and T20Is.

In domestic cricket, he represents Durham and has played in multiple Twenty20 leagues around the world.

Benjamin Andrew Stokes was born on 4 June 1991 in Christchurch, New Zealand, the son of rugby league footballer and coach Gerard Stokes (known as 'Ged'), and has some Māori ancestry.

Stokes moved to England at the age of 12 after his father was appointed head coach of Workington Town rugby league club, and grew up in the small West Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, attending Cockermouth School and playing cricket for Cockermouth Cricket Club.

He dropped out of the state school aged 16 with just one GCSE, in physical education.

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.

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.

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.

He made his T20I debut in 2011, his Test debut in 2013, and has played for England's One Day International (ODI) team from 2011, despite briefly retiring from the format in 2022.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 has been part of the Northern Superchargers squad since the inaugural season of The Hundred in 2021 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.

In February 2017, Stokes was bought by Rising Pune Supergiants to play in the Indian Premier League during the 2017 season.

He made his maiden Twenty20 century against Gujarat Lions, hitting 103 not out from 63 balls, including hitting seven fours and six sixes.

He was named as Most Valuable Player for the 2017 season.

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 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 2022 T20 World Cup, top-scoring in the final.

An all-rounder, Stokes is a left-handed middle-order batsman and right-arm fast bowler.