Page ^ Daily Mail, Tuesday, August 27, 2019
the patience of his club, his
country, and perhaps most of all
his wife Clare.
They have all been forced to
help pick up the pieces from the
on and off field indiscretions that
have landed him in cells, criminal
courts, and seen him sent home
from International tours.
That Stokes has repeatedly
bounced back is, perhaps, his
greatest achievement, not to
mention a feather in the cap of
England’s cricketing authorities,
who have handled his mercurial
talent wisely and arguably helped
forge his resilience.
We all make mistakes. But as his
remarkable achievements show,
it’s how you respond to them that
really counts...KIWI RUGBY LEGENDS
SIx foot tall, and naturally ath-
letic, Stokes hails from a long line
of Kiwi rugby legends.
Great-grandfather Jim, was
mayor of Greymouth, a town on
New Zealand’s South Island, who
became a prominent match offi-
cial in the 1950s and 60s. The
cricketer’s paternal grandfather,who was also named Jim, played
in several club sides which won a
host of national tournaments in
the post-war era.
His father, Gerard, carved out a
career in the amateur era by con-
verting to rugby league.
A prop forward, he won a cap
playing for the national side
in 1982.
Famously tough, Stokes Snr
once played half a season with a
constantly dislocated middle
finger, taping it up to get through
matches. He ultimately decided
to have it amputated rather than
operated on, because he couldn’t
afford medical bills, but was back
training within a week.
Ben — who grew up believing
his Dad’s finger had been bitten
off by a crocodile — also boasts a
sporty mother: Deborah Stokes
was a keen amateur cricketer,
even during pregnancy.
‘She was still playing right up to
carrying Ben,’ Gerard hasrecalled. ‘I’m sure that’s why he
came out as an all-rounder, as she
was as well.’‘BUILT LIKE POPEYE’
THE first big hits of Ben’s cricket
career came during infancy.
‘Deb and I can remember him
running around, still in nappies,
with a cricket bat,’ Gerard
recalled. ‘He was able to straight
drive the ball down the hallway
without a problem and pulling
the nappies up as he ran. He just
seemed to be a natural.’
Deborah’s job, counselling vic-
tims of violent crime, frequently
took her away from home, mean-
ing Ben, who was born in 1991,
spent much of his early childhood
with his father, who was by then
retired from rugby league and
working as a professional coach.
Perhaps as a result, a hefty
portion of his early sporting
success came in the oval-ball
game. By the time he was 11, BenH
E’S the cricketing
sensation responsible
for lighting up Eng-
land’s summer with
not one, but two of the
most heroic performances in
the history of sport.
But swashbuckling Ben Stokes, who
has almost single-handedly dragged
his side over the line in both a World
Cup final and perhaps the most grip-
ping Ashes Test match ever, hasn’t
always been such a national treasure.
With a fiery temper and sharp
tongue, not to mention a troublesome
relationship with alcohol, the New
Zealand-born star has often made
headlines for the wrong reasons.
In a career that began when he was
still an unruly teenager, the 28-year-
old all-rounder has repeatedly testedby Guy Adams
had captained New Zealand’s
South Island at rugby league, and
represented Wellington at
rugby union.
As a cricketer he was also dis-
playing extraordinary talent, rep-
resenting his national side.
‘He could bat anywhere, open
the bowling and in the field he
would dive away, stop the ball
and then throw the stumps
down,’ says the side’s coach Andy
Cameron, who has recalled
Stokes being ‘built like Popeye,’
and also ferociously competitive.PUNCHING DOORS
WHEN Ben was 12, his family
moved to Cumbria after Gerard
was appointed coach at Working-
ton, a rugby league club he’d
played at in the early 1980s.
Ben quickly started making his
mark at Cockermouth, the local
cricket club.
‘My first memories of Ben were
when he came to the nets as a 12-
year-old,’ coach, John Grainger,
has recalled. ‘He’d stay right until
the end, when it was getting very
dark, and I’d put the headlights
of my car on so he could play alittle longer.’ Stokes was soon
able to hit balls out of the ground.
But his reputation as a hothead
was also soon established: at 13
he broke his hand punching a fire
door in frustration and anger
after getting out.
At the time, he was still playing
rugby league, representing the
North of England.
But that stopped after he was
selected for England cricket’s
under-15 winter development
squad, only to turn up in
Loughborough on a pair of
crutches, after sustaining an
injury in an on-field collision.
‘It was a bit tense,’ was how
his then coach remembers a
meeting with the physiothera-
pist. ‘I think that was the end
of his competitive
rugby career.’
Despite ongoing anger-
management issues,
Stokes represented
England at Under-
and Under-16.
After leaving school
at 16, with GCSEs
in PE and design
and technology, heREDEMPTIO
Big hitter: Ben’s cricket talent was
obvious... even as a young childTrouble: Stokes, in green shirt, is captured
in CCTV images during Bristol street brawl.
Right, police release mug shot of his injuriesHe could hammer a ball while still in nappies...
but so often his fiery nature’s got the better of
him. GUY ADAMS charts Ben Stokes’ rocky ride
to the top — and reveals the secret weapon
that’s made him a role model for a generation