Cheek injury delays Stokes’ return until MayImage source, Getty ImagesImage caption, After his surgery, Ben Stokes travelled to the UAE to work as part of the coaching team with England Lions ByMatthew HenryBBC Sport JournalistPublished42 minutes agoEngland captain Ben Stokes is still recovering after surgery on a broken cheekbone and will not play for Durham next week as planned.Stokes, 34, was hit by a ball when working in the nets with Durham’s academy players in early February and had surgery a week later.
Coach Ryan Campbell mentioned Stokes was scheduled to play the season opener against Kent starting on Friday, but the club are still awaiting clearance from specialists.
Campbell mentioned he does not expect the all-rounder to feature until matches against Worcestershire from 8 May and the reverse fixture against Kent at Beckenham from 15 May.
If Stokes does not return sooner, those fixtures would be his only red-ball matches before England’s first Test of the summer against New Zealand from 4 June.
“[The incident] could have been horrific. So, so much worse than what you think,” Campbell mentioned.
“A couple of centimetres a different way it hits him in the eye and it could have been different.
“The ball was hit so hard. We are just lucky he got away with it.”
