It feels a bit funny, almost incomprehensible, that Ben Stokes, who is on the verge of earning his 100th Test cap, has already captained in 21 Test matches – which is one-fifth of his career – but is, seemingly, only getting started as England’s Test skipper.
The Rajkot Test match against India, commencing February 15, will mark the 100th Test of the all-rounder’s career; a career that began in 2013 and underwent a spate of ups and downs. But the passion and fire are burning more intensely than ever.
No England Test captain since Andrew Flintoff has evoked such a sense of anticipation prior to every game as Stokes does. While Flintoff’s tenure was torrid – 2 wins and 7 losses including a drubbing in Australia – Ben Stokes, coach Brendon McCullum, and their Bazballers, have made Test cricket fun and simply exciting to watch.
Ben Stokes, the lone-fighter in Perth 2013, the hero of the 2019 World Cup final, the miracle-maker of Headingley, and now the so-called savior of Test cricket – he’s gone from, as ESPNcricinfo’s Andrew Miller put it, “a cricketer capable of great moments” to a “great cricketer”.
However, throughout this journey, which started in 2009 for Durham, Stokes has had his share of controversies, those that always kept him in the headlines.
5 major controversies of Ben Stokes’ career:
A fight outside a bar in Bristol in 2017, leading to his arrest
Undoubtedly, the biggest controversy of Ben Stokes’ career was his and teammate Alex Hales’ brawl with two men – all four drunk – outside a nightclub in Bristol in 2017, leading to the arrest of the all-rounder as he was videotaped smashing the two men with his brawny hands.
Stokes, taken under police investigation, missed the Ashes 2017/18 in Australia. But the bigger worry for the ECB, his employers, was the tarnishing of the image of their golden boy and his impending court hearings. Stokes, in the court, claimed that he was defending two other gay men from homophobic abuse from the two men he attacked.
The gay couple later appeared on the news and said the Stokes “didn’t deserve being put through a trial”.
Sent back home from Australia due to indiscipline
Stokes’ first image as a bad boy was formed when he and Matt Coles, part of the England Lions’ series against Australia A, were sent back home from Australia in 2013 for their “unprofessional conduct” – a mild way of putting that the pair had flouted the team drinking rules multiple times.
Stokes, the angry man inflicting self-harm
Elite-level athletes are worried about injuries that could derail their careers. But there have been bizarre instances of cricketers injuring themselves. One such instance is when Ben Stokes hit the locker in the dressing room so hard after being run out in the 2013 Antigua ODI that he fractured his hand, and consequently missed the all-important 2014 T20 World Cup. Media and fans, duly, went after him.
Another drunk arrest
In 2011, Stokes grabbed the headlines for his first arrest when he was taken in for ‘obstructing the police’ in Durham. It was no surprise to anyone upon learning that he was drunk heavily.
Fights with Virat Kohli, Marlon Samuels
When he is not being investigated by the police and is taking time away from hitting back at fans and ex-cricketers and media pages on Twitter, a younger Ben Stokes liked to piss his opponents off.
You have got to give it to the man: he took on two of the other baddest boys in world cricket – Virat Kohli and Marlon Samuels.
In 2015, the feud between Stokes and Samuels, who is the only player in history to be Man of the Match in two ICC World Cup finals, intensified so much that the West Indies gave the Englishman a mocking salute when he was dismissed. While Stokes seemed to have moved on, Samuels, to this day, directly targets Stokes on his Insta posts.
The England all-rounder also remained impudent in his aggression toward Virat Kohli, the star boy of the cricket world, on England’s last two trips to India. Few men could come to India and take on the billion people’s main guy. Well, Ben Stokes is one of those.
Ben Stokes will be playing his 100th Test match in the 3rd Test against India.
– One of the greatest ever from England. pic.twitter.com/moN9iT8fPb
— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) February 13, 2024
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