Stokes to miss opening rounds of County Championship
Author: Tom Penn
Updated At:
The English County Championship gets underway on Friday with all 18 teams in action across the Rothesay County Championship Divisions 1 and 2. Durham travel south to take on Nottinghamshire at Trent Bridge, Nottingham but they will do so without England Test skipper Ben Stokes who will be unavailable for the opening rounds of the season.
But it's not just the County Championship where Stokes will be absent from the opening rounds, he is one of the biggest names not involved in this year's Indian Premier League.
From 2017 onwards, Stokes has played in 45 IPL games, hitting two centuries and taking 28 wickets while representing Rising Pune Supergiants, Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings.
Stokes at the IPL
| Runs | Average | Strike-Rate | Wickets | Average | Strike-Rate |
| 935 | 24.60 | 133.95 | 28 | 35.42 | 24.6 |
Stokes' absence should not come as a major surprise as he had hamstring surgery at the start of the year and England are determined to not rush his latest return from injury with such a busy and high-profile second half of 2025 to come.
What has Stokes missed already?
In 2025 alone, Stokes has already missed England's white-ball tour of India as well as their ICC Champions Trophy campaign and it is fair to say that he was missed in both. England managed just one victory during the 11 games and are currently looking for a replacement for Jos Buttler as white-ball captain, a vacancy which Stokes has been linked to.
Stokes' hamstring injury
After tearing his hamstring for the second time in five months during England's Test tour of New Zealand at the end of 2024, Stokes went under the knife once again. An operation on his body is not something the New Zealand born all-rounder is any stranger to and many expect him to once again return as good as before when he is fully fit.
Previous injuries
As such a wholehearted cricketer who constantly pushes himself to the limit, many are not surprised that Stokes falls victim to injury on a relatively regular basis. Few could forget the clip of him chasing a ball off his own bowling down to long off during the summer of 2020 and he is a player who can never be accused of giving less than 100%.
- Stokes missed the majority of IPL 2023 due to knee and hip injuries
- Stokes was ruled out of IPL 2024 after knee surgery
- Stokes suffered a hamstring injury in the summer of 2024 during The Hundred and missed the rest of the home season
England's May - December 2025
To say that England are going into a very busy period of Test cricket would be an understatement. After a low-key opening to the home summer against Zimbabwe, they then host India for five Tests before having their latest attempt to wrestle back the Ashes from Australia!
They travel down-under in mid-November and by the end of the year will have played four of the five Tests as they look to get their hands on the urn, something they have not done since 2015, or in Australia since 2010/11!
Therefore, getting Stokes back to peak fitness for the India and Australia series is paramount for the three lions.
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