Ben Stokes

 English cricketer Benjamin Andrew Stokes OBE (born 4 June 1991) currently captains the England Test team and competes for the England Twenty20 International (T20I) team. He plays for Durham in domestic cricket and has participated in numerous Twenty20 leagues all over the world.
Stokes was born in New Zealand and later immigrated to England.He played for England's ODI side from 2011 till his retirement from the format in July 2022. He made his T20I debut in 2011 and his Test debut in 2013. He was a member of the England squad that won the 2019 Cricket World Cup. He led the team in runs scored throughout England's final innings before coming out to bat in the tied Super Over and taking home the Man of the Match trophy. He received the ICC Award for Best Men's Cricketer and the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards in 2019, and he was named the Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2019, 2020, and 2023. In April 2022, he was named the Test squad captain for England. He was one of the England T20 World Cup champions, who led all scorers in the championship game.
Stokes is an all-rounder who bats in the middle of the order with his left hand and bowls right-arm quick. At number six, he holds the Test record for the most runs scored in an inning (258 against South Africa in England's 2015–16 tour). He and Jonny Bairstow achieved a 399-run sixth-wicket stand in the same Test, which set a world record. He broke Brendan McCullum's previous record of 107 sixes in a Test career in February 2023, setting a new record for the total amount of sixes hit in a Test career.

Early years

Benjamin Andrew Stokes, who has some Mori ancestry, was born on June 4, 1991, in Christchurch, New Zealand. He is the son of rugby league player and coach Gerard Stokes (sometimes known as "Ged"). After his father was named the head coach of Workington Town rugby league team at the age of 12[4], Stokes relocated to England. He was raised in the small West Cumbrian town of Cockermouth, where he attended Cockermouth School and played cricket for Cockermouth Cricket team.In 2006, when he was 15 years old, he and the team won the North Lancashire & Cumbria Cricket League Premier Division Title. After that, his parents relocated back to Christchurch, New Zealand;[4] On December 8, 2020, Ged Stokes passed away in New Zealand from brain cancer.

Domestic work

In 2009, Stokes made his one-day debut for Durham at The Oval, where he managed to dismiss the seasoned batsman Mark Ramprakash with just his third professional ball. In 2009, he participated in two youth tests against Bangladesh U19, where he scored fifty and claimed a few wickets. Later, he participated in the 2010 Under-19 World Cup, scoring a century against the India Under-19 team.
When Durham faced the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in the customary season-opening match, which was held in 2010 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi, Stokes made his first-class debut for Durham. He scored a half-century and took one wicket in that game. He also made his Durham Championship debut in a match against Essex at the opening of the 2010 County Cricket Season. On May 13, 2010, he scored his first-ever first-class century at Trent Bridge against Nottinghamshire. Additionally, he has competed for Durham in the Clydesdale Bank 40-over league. Stokes continued to play for Durham in all phases of the game as a result of Durham's ongoing issues with numerous players becoming hurt at the beginning of the 2010 season.
He was offered a spot in the England Performance Programme after a very good first-class cricket debut season, and he went to Australia for the 2010–11 Ashes.
In addition to playing a significant role in Durham's 2013 County Championship victory, Stokes was also voted Man of the Match in the 2014 Royal London One-Day Cup Final at Lord's after scoring 38* and grabbing two wickets in a low-scoring match against Warwickshire.
As a stand-in for Jesse Ryder, who was sidelined by an injury, Stokes signed on with the Melbourne Renegades of the Big Bash League of Australia on January 2, 2015.
Stokes was selected vice-captain of England's test team on February 13, 2017.