facial

England captain Ben Stokes was struck on the face by a cricket ball, which required surgery for a broken cheekbone.

England Test captain Ben Stokes has said he feels “quite lucky” to be alive as he recovers from surgery after being hit in the face by a cricket ball.

All-rounder Stokes required the procedure after suffering a broken cheekbone sustained by being hit by the ball during a net session while he was coaching academy players at his domestic county side Durham in February.

Stokes is set to play in two first-class County Championship games next month, but he revealed the incident could have been so much worse.

“I copped one straight in the face,” the 34-year-old told the England and Wales Cricket Board.

“Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest. Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview, if I didn’t turn my head round.

“All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out – it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone), I’ve got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that.”

He added: “Obviously it set everything back about a month, five weeks, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham, but just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts.

“At the back end of all that now, but it was a pretty scary situation. Thankfully still here and everything’s all right.”

Stokes is expected to be fit to lead England in the first Test of their home season against New Zealand at Lord’s starting on June 4, as they look to recover from their woeful 4-1 Ashes humiliation in Australia.

Stokes downplays rift with England coach McCullum

Stokes, meanwhile, has played down reports of disagreements with head ⁠coach Brendon McCullum but added that they do have different viewpoints at times.

British media reported that former New Zealand captain McCullum’s relationship with Test ⁠captain Stokes frayed during the Ashes series defeat in Australia, though the duo have publicly backed each other.

“I am very confident in mine and Brendon’s ability to be able to work together, because we’ve done it for ‌such a long period of time now,” Stokes said in an interview with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).

“But we work together in a slightly different way. The main point of me and Brendon is our alignment towards winning things and making this team as good as they can be.”

Since taking charge in 2022, McCullum and Stokes implemented ⁠an ultra-aggressive style of play known as “Bazball”, which has ⁠come under much scrutiny since England’s Ashes defeat, prompting the ECB to launch a thorough review into the team’s preparations.

McCullum was retained as coach.

“Agreeing on every single thing, that’s ⁠just impossible,” Stokes said.

“We agree 95% of the time on things, but those 5% things that we might ⁠have different views on, we talk about it ⁠between each other and then we end up getting to the place where we want to get to.

“We put a lot of our heart and soul into this job. Brendon certainly ‌has for the four years he’s done it so far, and hopefully we’ll still be together at the end of 2027, winning what we want ‌to ‌win.”

England host New Zealand for a three-Test series in June before eight limited-overs matches at home to India.

A BOYBAND singer songwriter has turned heads on the Olivier Awards green carpet with striking new facial fuzz.

The former Strictly star showcased the suave new look at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday night.

Musician Tom Fletcher looked worlds away from his old self as he joined his wife, Giovanna Fletcher, to celebrate his stage show Paddington winning multiple awards.

The 40-year-old sported a smart blue velvet blazer with a white shirt and black bow tie.

Posing alongside him, Giovanna, 41, looked equally glam in a strapless navy floor-length gown with diamond earrings and a black clutch.

The couple appeared at the 50th anniversary of the star-studded event hosted by comedian and The Traitors favourite Nick Mohammed.

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The McFly musician composed the score for the award-winning West End hit Paddington The Musical.

The show won awards for Best Set Design, Best Costume Design, Best Director, Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Musical, Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical, Best Actor in a Musical and Best New Musical.

Adapted from Michael Bond’s beloved book series and the successful film franchise, the production is currently running at London’s Savoy Theatre.

Mum-of-three Giovanna recently revealed she suffered a second devastating miscarriage in 2025 after a “surprise” pregnancy.

The podcaster and author, who has been married to McFly star Tom since 2012 – share three sons – Buzz, Buddy and Max.

To mark the 300th episode of her podcast Happy Mum Happy Baby in February, Giovanna was interviewed by her best pal, Emma Willis.

The author said she doesn’t believe parents should have to wait until the 12-week mark to tell people as it means they can’t necessarily be there if a miscarriage happens before that time. 

The former I’m A Celebrity winner revealed she had rearranged the year ahead as she prepared to welcome the baby into the family and was looking forward to having a reason to slow down.  

Back in 2017, Giovanna opened up about suffering a heartbreaking miscarriage with her first baby before going on to welcome son Buzz.

Prior to parenting and stage success, former The Voice judge Tom was one of the original members of Busted but soon got shown the door.

The budding star auditioned for the group alongside Charlie Simpson but fate formed its own version of pop history.

Musician Tom was gutted to learn the record label had changed their mind and only wanted a trio.

In 2003, Tom joined musical forces with Danny Jones and McFly was born – named after Back to the Future‘s Marty McFly.

He has written 10 UK number-one singles and 21 top-ten singles and is credited as having written songs for One Direction, Busted, The Vamps and 5 Seconds of Summer.

The It’s All About You singers became the youngest band to have an album reach the top of the charts.

If you’re able to get junior pitcher Tanner Brown of Huntington Beach High to crack a smile, you have to be the greatest comedian in the world

“He plays angry,” coach Benji Medure said.

He’s the “other” left-hander on the team. While Jared Grindlinger, a likely first-round draft pick, gets most of the attention, don’t forget about Brown, who had the save in a win over St. John Bosco at the Boras Classic on Wednesday.

He’s 2-0 with a 1.94 ERA.

“I like to play with fire,” he said.

Left-hander Tanner Brown of Huntington Beach.

(Nick Koza)

He wears his emotions on his sleeve. So if something bad happens, watch out. If something good happens, you can exhale.

Asked when he smiles, Brown said, “When the job is done.”

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email eric.sondheimer@latimes.com.