England Test captain Ben Stokes is set to make his first appearance in ‘The Hundred’ for three years this summer. ESPNcricinfo has reported that the all-rounder has been granted permission from the England Cricket Board (ECB) to take part in the second half of the tournament, where he will be coached by Andrew Flintoff.
Ben Stokes played only two games for the Northern Superchargers in the maiden season of the Hundred in 2021, before keeping himself away from the format since taking the responsibility of red-ball captaincy.
Despite being named in the squad for multiple times, the New Zealand-born decided to opt for rest between Test series, having struggled with a knee injury that at the end got healed with a successful surgery at the end of the 50-over World Cup last year.
Ben Stokes to provide balance to the Northern Superchargers
It was July 2021, when Ben Stokes suffered a panic attack in the morning of his game against the Trent Rockets at the Trent Bridge ground, when he collapsed on the floor of his hotel bathroom. Later, he was advised to take a long break from the game that year.
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However, reports have confirmed that the world-cup winning member has been made available for four group stage games this season, along with the knockout stages, if his team goes on to qualify for that. His first game will be against Birmingham Phoenix on August 06, at Edgbaston.
Ben Stokes, took his retirement from the T20I format, just before the announcement of England’s squad for the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024, as he focuses on keeping himself fresh for the longest format of the game. In 43 games of the shortest format, the Durham all-rounder managed 585 runs at a strike rate of 128, besides picking up 26 wickets at an economy of 8.39.
What Ben Stokes will bring to the competition will be an attraction, which is the exact thing the ECB would be hoping for to get in the competition, as he will link with the former star all-rounder of the national team, Freddie Flintoff, who is due to begin his first role as head coach from the upcoming week.
The Hundred starts on July 23, which will be three days before the start of the final Test on July 26 for the ongoing three-match series against the West Indies, at Edgbaston in Birmingham. That means the league will be light on the star names in the first week before some of their national players take a small part in the game.
The England batters will be released to play straight after the Edgbaston Test, while the bowlers and all-rounder will be available from August 06 onwards, for the second half of the group stage. The fiery pacer Mark Wood and lone off-spinner of the red-ball side, Shoaib Bashir are yet to get a contract in the Hundred, while the availability of Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington depend on their involvement in Birmingham.
Along with that, the Global T20 League in Canada is also going to start around the same period, while the final week of the ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC) is also going to clash with the event.
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Three days after the end of the 100-ball league, England will be hosting another three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, starting from August 21, at the Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester, which puts a question on the availability of the bowlers, and their captain Ben Stokes.
Meanwhile, Riley Meredith and James Neesham have signed a short-term deal as a cover for Joe Root and Zak Crawley, while Tim Southee is set to be part of the Phoenix after Naseem Shah was denied an NOC by the PCB.