Foreign Correspondence #6: Ben Stokes' bravery, baseball and Khawaja's fried chicken

Stokes reflects and is reflected by my coffee table

Late last night, Ben Stokes’ 25-minute ECB-produced interview popped up in the algorithm, so I tuned in. And it was good to see the complex England captain speak openly and with trademark honesty about his recovery from the Ashes debacle and a horrific facial injury incurred on return home.

When carved up into eye-catching quotes or channelled through social media, Stokes can come across as a bit of a faux-heroic caricature, but in this broader interview setting, it’s easier to be empathetic with one of cricket’s talented and occasionally troubled individuals.

Much of what he had to say in the ECB video release had been reported, but there was a moment toward the end of the interview (23 mins if you are playing along at home) where the shop-worn 34-year-old was asked if he contemplated throwing the towel in after the tour.

“Honestly, no, never did,” he replied.

“Literally, I sort of went the other way.

“I was getting a bit worried, initially, because I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t stop thinking about Australia, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the Test summer coming up. Genuinely, it just completely and utterly consumed me. I feel like I was able to switch off from it for about half an hour, and then something else would get my iPad out and start writing down notes and all this kind of stuff.

“I’d never experienced that before. I thought I’d gone into those places before, but Australia, my gosh, it was pretty extreme.

“Not that I got worried, but I was able to turn that around and think the fact that I am doing this, am so consumed by trying to make sure we do things in the future to potentially stop a series like Australia happening again, to me that’s a positive and proves how much I want to do this, how much I’m still eager to do the role as England’s captain, and eager to be part of England going forward. Whereas, if I’d got home and completely shut myself away from it, just see what happens, let other people make decisions for me and think ‘if I’m gone, I’m gone’.

“You know, I think that would be me thinking subconsciously ‘I don’t really want this’. The fact I was, how I was for the first week or two after Australia, proved I’m proper in this still.”

Stokes, bravely, allowed director Sam Mendes into his life to make a documentary when anxiety issues had compelled him to take a five-month break from the game in 2021. He admitted then that he’d had to seek counselling and medical intervention to deal with his issues.

“I never thought I would be on medication to help me with that kind of stuff. I am not embarrassed or ashamed to say it because I needed the help at the time, but it’s not done just because I’m back playing. I still speak to the doc, not as regularly, and I’m still taking medication every day. It’s an ongoing process.”

Few wear their heart on their sleeve, on or off the field, like Stokes.

I resolve to be kinder next time he makes one of those dumb social media posts about effing this up or effing loving effing that.