Ben Stokes
Ben Stokes – Vice-captain of the England national cricket team
Ben Stokes plays for the England national cricket team in international competitions. Since 2020, he has been the captain of the team in Test matches. Stokes is considered a versatile player who combines the positions of a right-arm fast medium bowler and a left-handed batsman. Let’s get to know the athlete better and find out how his career was built.
Ben Stokes: how the professional career of the player developed
Ben Stokes was born on June 4, 1991, in Christchurch, Canterbury – New Zealand, but at the age of 12, he moved with his parents to England, where he began playing cricket. Stokes is a versatile player and is characterized by an aggressive style of play on the field.
Ben Stokes started playing cricket in the school team. He also represented a couple of local teams at some competitions. The novice athlete also played for the England national team in the U-19 category. Sports experts highly appreciated his performance.
On August 25, 2011, Ben Stokes made his One Day International debut against the Irish national team. On September 23, the player made his first appearance at a Twenty20 International against a team from the West Indies in the same year.
In 2013, Ben Stokes made his Test debut against a team from Australia.
Professional achievements of Ben Stokes:
- In 2006, at the age of 15, he was awarded the Cumbria and North Lancashire Cricket League Premier Division title.
- In 2017, he became the highest-paid foreign cricketer in the history of the IPL. His salary under the contract was 2.1 million US dollars. In the same year, Ben won the Most Valuable Player award.
- In 2018, he became the most expensive player at the IPL auction. The Rajasthan Royals Cricket Club acquired the athlete for more than 2.3 million US dollars.
- In 2019, he won the Cricket World Cup with the England team and received the Man of the Final Trophy. He was also awarded the Freedom of the Borough Award and was awarded the BBC award.
- In 2020, he became the captain of the England national team in test cricket. He took first place in the ranking among the best universal players in the world in Tests. And he also received the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for Best Cricketer of the Year.
The athlete also holds several records:
- Scored a double century in test matches with the fastest rate.
- The highest number of runs in an innings in test matches at the sixth position is 258.
- Ben Stokes is the second player to represent the England national team in test cricket, who completed 4,000 runs and took 100 wickets.
Cricket teams for which Ben Stokes played:
- England U-19, England Development Program U-19, England, Durham 2nd XI, Durham, Melbourne Renegades, Rising Pune Supergiant, Canterbury, England Lions, Rajasthan Royals.
Ben Stokes plays in the England national cricket team under number 67, and in the Indian Premier League, he plays under number 55.
Ben Stokes: high-profile scandals involving an athlete
Ben Stokes is famous for his short-tempered character. The ICC once fined him for violating the rules of conduct. 15% of the penalty was deducted from his match fee.
There was a case when a player was sent home from a tour in Australia because he did not comply with the rules regarding drinking alcoholic beverages.
The most ridiculous case with Ben happened in 2014. After the match against the national team from the West Indies, the athlete came to the general locker room and menacingly banged his fist on his locker, as a result of which he received a broken arm and could not take part in the T20 World Cup. By the way, he got the game nickname The Hurt Locker because of this incident.
In 2017, Ben Stokes was arrested by the police for a fight. This case affected the athlete’s career. First, due to an arm injury, he had to miss several cricket games and then a couple of matches due to court hearings in which Ben had to participate. In 2018, Stokes was still acquitted. But the player lost his sponsor in the person of the New Balance company.
Some time later, another scandal broke out. England and Wales Cricket Board accused Ben Stokes of expressing disapproval on social networks, undermining the reputation of the entire gaming community. The player had to pay a large fine and miss eight matches due to disqualification.
Ben Stokes: personal life, salary, interesting facts
Ben Stokes is an only child in the family. His father, Gerard Stokes, was a former rugby player who was involved in coaching the national teams of New Zealand and England. Actually, because Gerard was invited to coach the English team, the family changed their place of residence. On December 8, 2020, Gerard Stokes died.
The athlete was educated at Cockermouth School, where he first got acquainted with the game of cricket.
Ben is married to his long-time girlfriend Clare Ratcliffe, with whom they were married on October 14, 2014. The couple has two children – a boy named Layton and a girl named Libby.
Ben Stokes’ fees in cricket matches according to some unofficial data:
- For Test matches, Ben receives about 12 thousand US dollars per game.
- In Twenty20, he earns $ 2,500 per match.
- In One Day International, a player receives about 5 thousand dollars per match.
Interesting facts about Ben Stokes:
- His full name is Benjamin Andrew Stokes.
- Game nicknames – Stokesy, The Hurt Locker, and Rocky.
- Ben has several tattoos on his body. The most difficult and the biggest is on the back. It is said that the tattoo artist took a total of 27 hours to complete it entirely.
- The total capital of the player is estimated at $ 1 million.
- Cricketers who inspire him: batsman Kevin Pietersen and bowler Dale Steyn.
Ben Stokes actively updates his social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. He has his Instagram page under the nickname @stokesy. At the moment, more than 1.7 million people have subscribed to it. The player posts pictures from training sessions and cricket matches and pays special attention to his family: Ben posts a lot of funny videos with his children and pets.
