If I was making the movie of the Ben Stokes story,
a pivotal scene would be, you saying, "I'm done."
Stokes has withdrawn from England's test squad
-to prioritize his mental well-being. -The all-rounder
would take an indefinite break from the game with immediate effect.
I just want my friends to be okay.
I could have seen him never play again.
Having tattoos that really mean something to you,
it's almost like a reminder to myself,
if ever I'm doubting myself.
He is the most talked about cricketer in world cricket at the moment.
Cricketer Ben Stokes has been charged with affray.
He's gotta get used to the fact that
there's gonna be people who'll want a piece of him.
The saying of the Phoenix rising out of the ashes was perfect for me.
It represents a lot of stuff
I've had to personally rise out of the ashes from.
Today, he hit out at The Sun newspaper for publishing a story
he described as despicable.
Yeah, there's no escape, there's nowhere to go.
There's a man back, there's a man back! It's six!
The thrill you get out of doing something so physical that it hurts.
Ben Stokes dominated a sensational summer of English cricket.
That experience would have broken lesser mortals.
As good a ball as you will ever see.
Ben Stokes, what a remarkable player you are!
I have gone through my career fearing failure.
No way. You cannot do that, Ben Stokes!
That is one of the greatest catches of all time.
Rather than fearing failure,
embrace it.
Cricket is my obsession.
I'm a fanatic of the sport.
Tension, drama.
For me, it always captivates.
Lord's is one of the great theatres,
and backstage the walls are adorned with the stars of the game.
They're all players that had their day in the sun.
Ben Stokes had a whole summer.
What is going on, Ruben?
His life has intrigued me more than any other cricketer.
He's experienced dizzying heights...
Bowled him. Make that six for 22!
...and inspired a nation.
I do not believe what I've just seen!
But he has also endured some crushing lows.
Stokes is accused of losing control.
The 27-year-old is on trial.
Back off guys, come on.
I met him in perhaps his darkest hour.
This is a film about loss in the time of lockdown.
It's about trauma and grief.
But also, strength, courage, and defiance.
Yes!
Quite simply, his life is a story you could not script.
Cricket isn't just played in unbelievable stadiums
with unbelievable grandstands and facilities.
Go, go, boy!
It's not all about that.
But everyone who plays it, loves it and enjoys it.
In sports teams, you are a family away from your family
because you spend so much time together.
Marry at first sight? Bloody hell!
Tell you what, I actually enjoy watching Don't Tell the Bride. You watch it?
Yeah, yeah. Where they want to spend six grand on the stag,
200 quid on the dress.
And we get to go to lovely countries.
We do a job that we love,
and that we've grown up playing since we were kids.
Going through hardships with team-mates, celebrating it at the end,
because everyone's played their part.
That's better than any individual thing.
It does not exactly make everything that we do incredible.
No, no, no, no!
No, no, no. Fucking flat-track bully, are we?
No, no!
Flat-track bully boy.
It doesn't work like that.
England's star all-rounder, Ben Stokes, has confirmed
he's taking an indefinite period of leave from cricket
to prioritize his mental well-being.
This is the latest stunning development in Stokes' career,
one full of emotional ups and downs.
England bosses say they will give Stokes as long as he needs to recover.
Do you need a coffee?
-I think I've got one coming. -Have you?
Yeah.
Good?
The last couple of weeks have been complicated for you.
Was there a particular moment that you thought,
"I need to take a step back?"
Quite a lot of things have happened with me,
with how the world is at the moment,
and it just sort of got to a point
where probably everything just got a bit too much.
What was the lowest ebb and how did it manifest itself?
Sort of think how long has it been happening for.
But when you're sat on your toilet in your hotel room,
and you're having a massive panic attack with your manager on the end of the phone
with his wife, and then eventually your wife trying to talk you through it,
and get you sort of coming out of that.
Just... Yeah, I think that's probably when you know
when, you know, things aren't quite right.
Ben rang me one morning, just after 6:00 a.m.
The other end of the phone was just a very, very, emotional Ben.
He was in tears, he couldn't get his words out,
he was struggling for breath.
And it was clear that he was, to me, having a panic attack of some description.
And he was in a poor way.
Have you had similar thoughts in the past?
Have there been moments when you've contemplated the same thing?
Not to this extent, no. Nowhere near.
This is, yeah, something else.
I tried to sit down and work out when it first started.
It's not only the sport that's been mentally fatiguing.
It's been everything else that's built up over a long period of time,
showing its teeth now.
There are all those things when you go somewhere
or you drive past something,
it jogs your memory on something, when I was a kid.
I was only 12, and been in Wellington for two years
after being in Christchurch.
Moving over to Cockermouth with Mum and Dad
was a scary thing to think about.
I think a big part of them was making sure that I transitioned here
as easy as possible.
And sport, cricket in particular, was a big part of that.
The son of a New Zealand rugby league player,
Ben learned his cricket as a junior at Cockermouth,
while his father was coaching first Workington town and later Whitehaven.
This photo here was taken
the day before Ben and I were to fly out to England to join Gerard.
And as you can probably tell from the look on Ben's face...
...he wasn't particularly happy.
One of the biggest attractions was the cricket club.
Gerard and I would go to work, and Ben would go down to the nets,
and he'd be there still at 4:00, 5:00.
This is where we used to roam around, man.
Hey, man, how you doing? You all right?
All right, you? How you doing, mate?
That's the thing, aye. I know where I am.
Driving in here today and I was going, "This is where I used to do this
"when we were younger, we used to hang out there."
I do that in New Zealand as well, when I go back there.
It's the same feeling.
And then obviously Durham now is where home is.
It's nice to think that I've got a relationship with three different places
in completely different parts of the world.
This is where I grew up in Cockermouth, here.
There's a bottom flat,
and then we were on top, so we had a living room, kitchen,
and upstairs was a bedroom.
And yeah, it's literally a five-minute walk to the cricket club.
So, it was very useful.
At the moment, the likes of Freddie Flintoff
and Kevin Peterson are the star names in English cricket.
But these two teenagers are hoping to follow their leads.
Both have been called up to the England Under-15 squad.
I had a Cockermouth presentation to go to.
Got told there that Joe had been selected.
Then at the very end of the presentation, I got told that I got selected as well,
and went up in front of everyone just clapping. It was fantastic, really.
Great shot.
First time we met, we were 12, playing against each other.
So, this annoying loud kid who's abusing me
for 50 overs of an Under-12's game for Cumbria versus Yorkshire.
But you could see, he was a talent at the time.
You could see how desperate he was to win.
So, when we were growing up here, like Cockermouth, Cumbria in general,
there's not that much to do as teenagers.
Hunters Alleyway. Yeah.
A few fights down there growing up.
It sounds like... No, it was boring, but actually, I swear to God,
it was class-like.
All right, Darrell lad? All right?
I had a fight with him growing up.
Darrell. Brian Darrell. What a lad!
It's too funny, that.
About a three or four year period, when I was going through the teens,
things could have taken a different turn.
Stokesy, stop it!
Farmer will be a bit pissed off when he loses his cows.
Stokes has got a good relationship with the animals.
He's got the fucking IQ of one.
Little shit!
Once I did have my ambition to become a professional cricketer,
everything else took a back seat to what I wanted to do.
Next is Ben Stokes.
Unacceptable miss. Ben Stokes.
Unacceptable miss.
I did the summer in the Durham Academy,
and then the winter spent back in Cumbria with Mom and Dad in Cockermouth.
Ben Stokes.
Unacceptable miss.
Dad was a big influence on decisions and training.
Ben Stokes.
To get me into the gym when I didn't want to,
to get me out of bed when I didn't want to.
Acceptable miss.
Over those years, I would turn up at the start of the season fit,
because he managed to keep me on top of all the other side of things
that you don't want to be doing at that age.
Direct hit.
First time I came across Ben would have been,
West of England versus North of England playing against him.
He was a big guy for his age.
Quite imposing, even at a young age. He was probably sort of 14, 15 years old.
Hit the ball hard.
"Tough northerner." That was the sort of impression you got.
He gets a single and a four. He gets two runs.
He gets a six. He gets a single and a four.
-How many runs does he get? -Eighteen!
Okay, good.
Three, two, one, go!
This is the game that I play, this is my job.
Whoever I'm representing is gonna get everything from me,
regardless if it's England or if it's Durham.
Paul, did you hear me? Rest it on the metal gate
and then pour it into the bottles, it's easy.
If it's Cockermouth and I'm 40 and retired,
I'd still be exactly the same.
You want to be seen to be that person.
Guys, just walk down the hill. Just walk down the hill.
Are you okay? Keep going.
Come on, Paul!
You want to be known as that person who'd go above and beyond
to do something on the field that some other people might not.
At Durham early on in his career, he got the nickname "The Beast."
Very much related to his pain.
He just seems to just soldier on when you think it's tough.
I've seen him bowl 20 overs off the belt when his back's sore, his knee's sore,
and he just keeps going on and on.
You could always tell he was gonna be something pretty special.
You must be really pleased to get a 50
in your first class debut for Durham.
Yeah, it's a good start to create that. Hopefully, it's gonna be a long one.
Those teen years, they just flew by.
And then, came home without our boy.
But time for him to make his way, by that stage.
It's difficult while you're playing to feel what's really happening.
When you talk about your panic attack, what were you panicking about?
Recently since I've stopped, you know, my anxiety has just gone through the roof.
And I had one in the dry cleaners, of all places,
when a woman asked me to sign a cricket ball for her,
and I just wanted to get out.
You can feel your heart, you start sweating.
And then I had one picking up my son from a birthday party,
because there were loads of people there.
I know that they know.
You know that they know what?
How I feel, just about everything in life at the moment.
Such a hard thing for a man to come out and say,
and you don't feel like you can, because you're gonna get judged.
Hello, Griff. Just letting you know that I'm in at the ground now.
Okay, mate. I'm about five minutes away.
I'll just see you in the physio room then, eh?
Here we go. Right there. That's what I broke.
You'll see me in quite a lot of pain later.
This treatment fucking hurts.
-How have you been? -Yeah, good, man.
Happy?
I can do that at the end of the treatment,
-right? -Okay.
And then now... If you know what I mean.
That's obviously a lot more than what it was last week,
but I'm just, like, come on, man.
So, do you have big plans for the weekend? Big birthday?
Big three-O mate, Saturday.
-Festival themed party, man. -Nice.
Actually, when people ask how old you are, and you say 30,
it's almost like they respect you a bit more, now.
You say, like, "29," and they're like...
You've grown up now. You're 30.
"Thirty now, are you?"
Can you pull your tip back?
Bring all the others in, make a fist, go on.
Shit.
Sometimes if he's home, especially if there's an injury,
he's so grumpy.
It's not that he doesn't want to be here, but he would rather be playing cricket.
Face that way. Prepare for it. Ready?
Point those toes.
Beautiful.
Sometimes that's really hard.
But you've done loads with the kids, and really helped me out and stuff.
And you're home for your birthday, which is so nice.
I almost got him. One last shot.
When you got home this time, Layton just held you.
He's always really struggled with you leaving.
-I've had to drag him out of airports... -Yeah.
...like, crying and begging for him not to go.
So, most things are coming on Friday.
We've got bunting, flags, so that the whole garden's
like a Ben Fest festival.
Hopefully he likes it. He better do!
-Hello, Ben. -Hello, darling. Happy birthday.
How you doing, man?
Yeah, thanks, man. Yeah, you too, you too
Am I all right? Have I passed?
Cheers. Well done, baby. Amazing.
Cheers to Ben.
What we did was...
Can you just do a point or something like that?
Just point.
There you go.
It does have a different feel to it, saying I'm 30.
Just goes by so quick.
Look at this. You getting shy?
It's just absolutely flown by.
I've never seen so many guys get hit down.
No way!
I've never seen anyone this bad.
We've been together now nearly 11 years.
We've never had a year, with nothing exciting
or dramatic happening, I don't think.
Ups and downs constantly.
Never smooth.
So, that obviously changes you, you know?
I know now that the cricket's back on,
you'll start getting a bit more like itchy feet.
Wanting to get out there, wanting to get back.
Shall I let the dogs in, Clare?
Come here. Come on. What's this? What's that?
What's that noise?
What's that? What's that? What's that? What's that? What's that?
He's an England cricketer, number 55 on his T- shirt as Stokes.
What do your friends say at school, they say things, don't they sometimes?
They say he's the best cricketer alive.
Yeah, that's what my friends say.
He is.
-Where has that gone? -The arms are out.
He knows it's a six.
Look at the crowd!
What a catch!
Looks like the world couldn't find a place within it
for the combative all-rounder.
All this time... Fabulous effort.
Yes!
Ben Stokes' fastest century at Lord's!
Ben Stokes has the rare ability to singlehandedly change games.
Make that six for 22!
His talents for a few weeks' work in the IPL have been valued
at £1.75 million.
It won't change him as a person it won't change the way he plays.
Gone again! This one's bigger. What a hundred!
Ben Stokes! That is one to savor!
That's all he's done all his life,
is get ready to play cricket at this level.
250 up for Ben Stokes.
He is box office, this lad!
He is the world's top cricketer, Ben Stokes!
England all-rounder was one of the standout success stories
of the Ashes win that has revitalised interest in the sport.
The crowning moment of his career so far.
Yes!
Ben again dragged on.
They have won back the Ashes.
Stokes' performance at the second inning was just unbelievable.
Stokes in the right place!
England in the lead!
West Indian fans are stunned and a total contrast on England's side.
Ben Stokes coming into bowl that last over, with 19 required.
But it would have been advantage England.
Just a couple of good deliveries and we would have a T20 World Cup title.
Ben Stokes has got 18 runs to play with.
He was still a young player at that stage,
trying to make his way to international cricket.
It's a tough pressure situation.
What a dramatic game.
He has the confidence in his own ability that he can help his team win.
Ben Stokes, with his final over.
He hit it to the leg side.
West Indies, that helps.
13 from five.
I turned to my colleague and said,
"Don't worry, he's not gonna do that again."
Big shot. Huge shot! Where's it gone? Into the stands!
Seven from four.
Stokes to come again.
It's high in the air again!
It's three sixes!
West Indian fans are stunned.
There was just a look.
In the space of three balls, the game was over!
Carlos Brathwaite! Carlos Brathwaite.
Remember the name!
The blood was draining from Ben's face.
That experience would've broken lesser mortals.
I remember just reaching out.
So, I messaged him. I said,
"Sometimes when it doesn't come off the way you want it,
"it makes you even more hungry.
"Makes you even more determined to never feel like that again.
"And that drives you."
How is Ben Stokes?
It's not his fault. We're all in this together.
We enjoy our wins and we suffer with all our losses.
So again, the pain will be shared tonight.
I'm a massive believer that setbacks are your biggest teacher.
You don't learn if you don't have failures.
I worked with Ben for the Rajasthan Royals when I was team mentor.
He's the hardest trainer out of anyone I've ever played with.
Everything is flat out.
He steams in.
Not many people can push themselves to the extreme.
Some people can take themselves to some dark places.
How hard he trains is always a bit scary for people to watch
because, "Okay, is he gonna hurt himself? What's going to happen?"
If he's in his beast mode,
I say the phrase to him,
"I know you need to hurt yourself."
Maybe some people are just born with it.
The hardest thing is knowing when to hold him back.
Because you know what he can do.
The rawness of his skill level.
And you know he's desperate to make an impact.
Over his career, he's gotten better at controlling that aggression.
That's the intimidating thing when you play against him.
I know when I face him in the nets,
it felt like I was dominating him in a practice match,
ahead of one of the games, and then, out of nowhere he just hit me in the head.
It's just everything clicked in.
And before you know it, you think, "That's come from nowhere."
When it gets hard, you don't have to turn to him, he comes to you.
I think that's probably the hardest thing for him to manage as well, sometimes.
Him knowing himself. What's too much?
You do not mention something when questioned, something
-that you later rely on in court. -Yep. That's absolutely fine.
Anything you do say will be given in evidence. Sit in the car a sec.
Yes, we've got a male, potentially unconscious on the floor,
who's got a laceration to his face, by the looks of things.
We're dealing with the suspect at the moment.
Are there gonna be any social cameras around here?
-Yeah, there will be. -There will be. Sweet.
We're staying in Bristol at the hotel with him.
Woke up to an empty bed,
and a voicemail from the police station.
Sorry. Do you mind just loosening that right one on my wrist?
-Yes. Give me two secs. -Yeah, all right.
Can I get a person's check, please? In relation to this job?
They didn't even say what happened, they just said, "Phone us."
So, you immediately think the worst.
I'm going to say that the one on my right wrist is a little bit tight.
Then it just spiraled from there, really.
I'd heard when everyone else heard, in the news.
It's just worth saying that there's not much I can say at this stage,
that Ben was arrested in the early hours of Monday morning, 25th of September,
following an incident in Bristol. He was held overnight.
I felt immediate worry for him.
This is not an incident that sits comfortably.
And then the video came out.
And I watched it and just almost closed my eyes.
That is not what I wanted to see at all.
Because there's no hiding away from it. The video is ugly.
Stokes, Stokes!
But I knew something must have happened,
for him to be in any situation like that.
When people saw that footage,
there was only one thing anybody would have thought instantly.
"Ben Stokes is in trouble."
You want to clear the record about Bristol. What went wrong?
What went wrong?
Nothing good happens after midnight.
We were looking for a casino to go to.
You notice something when two random guys are saying stuff to other guys,
which they shouldn't be doing.
What did you overhear?
The two lads who were getting the abuse were gay.
The two lads who I ended up having the altercation with
were taking the piss out for being gay.
At what point did you see red?
"See red" is probably the wrong way to say it,
but as soon as a bottle got brought out,
and he tried to hit one of my friends at the time, Alex,
and then one of the other guys that we stepped in to help.
You know, then...
I'll explain to you why you've been arrested as well.
Yeah.
It's because there's a guy over there that's covered in blood,
and I've been told that you punched him.
Because he was abusing
-my two friends for being gay. -That's all I've been told.
That's why I'm arresting you for suspicion of assault.
-Absolutely fine. -We need a first aider.
He's got a lot of Kiwi in him.
He's got a lot of his dad in him as well.
Gerard would never walk past an incident like that.
You realized very quickly how big the story was going to be,
because of the nature of the incident.
Those images and the video as well.
He was the name. Yeah, he was the story.
Ben Stokes was abusive to a doorman.
Stokes is accused of losing control and attacking two local men.
Inside he'd had at least six vodka lemonades and downed some shots.
It was horrific.
We couldn't come home to our house,
and the press were just camped outside for weeks.
England cricketer Ben Stokes has been charged with affray.
The 27-year-old is on trial, accused of affray.
The maximum sentence for the offence is three years.
People have probably made up their minds already.
I have no sympathy whatsoever for Ben Stokes.
Last time I checked in this country, you're innocent until proved guilty.
Trouble follows him around.
Excuse me. Excuse me.
He could be charged with actual bodily harm.
There was the potential for a custodial sentence.
He indicated he would plead not guilty to the charge of affray.
It's hard to know how anyone would come back from that.
The first couple of days was just awful.
It's alleged a 27-year-old man suffered a fractured eye socket.
The two other defendants also indicated they would deny the offence.
It must have been very difficult to not be able to stick up for yourself.
Never spoke about it because I wasn't allowed to.
That's the fucking stupid thing.
But the media can say whatever they want every single day.
Yeah. Pieces of shit.
There were allegations that that night he had been homophobic,
and he had mocked a couple of gay men.
They just reported whatever they thought was detrimental to me.
A doorman said Stokes became abusive.
When he left here, he was in a spiteful and angry mood.
People were getting it so wrong.
Ben Stokes is adamant that he felt threatened.
He was threatened the whole time.
These men were armed.
When someone comes at you with a bottle, you can't really feel not threatened.
They didn't print all the stuff that was said in court, in Ben's favor.
For you. Ben Stokes was a hero.
Yeah, definitely, yeah. If he wasn't there,
God only knows what would've happened.
They only printed negative stuff. And you just think, that's not fair.
When something you do as an individual affects people who have no right
to be affected by it, that's the hardest thing to watch.
It was really hard. We're on the other side of the world.
We just couldn't do anything to help in any way.
I was really, really worried.
Stokes has already been suspended over the incident.
Do you expect to play cricket again this summer?
This was so serious.
I just can't see how Ben Stokes can possibly go to Australia.
I don't think he should be able to come and play.
There needs to be a precedent set, I think, even for his own benefit.
Fuck off. Fuck off, guys, come on!
Quite a lot had happened throughout that whole time.
I missed the national series. I lost the vice captaincy.
He still faces possible sanction
from the ECB's Cricket Disciplinary committee.
What happens now is the disciplinary proceedings by England's cricket board.
To just put Ben's career on pause,
while effectively he was still an innocent man, seemed cruel.
It's not the first time that Stokes has faced scrutiny off the field.
In 2011, he was cautioned after obstructing a police officer
during a night out in Newcastle.
In 2014, he broke his hand after punching a dressing room locker.
And last year, Stokes was banned from driving
after being caught speeding four times.
What does the future hold for the poster boy of English cricket?
The most talked about man in world cricket has touched down in Christchurch.
Ben's gotta understand that he's the most talked-about cricketer
in world cricket at the moment.
English all-rounder, Ben Stokes...
He was tight-lipped when he landed in Auckland.
Watch your backs guys, you're going to tip over.
To hold such a role of leadership and...
this is just utterly disgraceful, what happened.
Wherever he goes, he's gotta get used to the fact
that there's going to be people who want a piece of him.
...in self-defense.
...why always me?
My only concern was Ben.
One of my closest mates that I care deeply about.
It was difficult to see that all unfold, really.
If I was making the movie of the Ben Stokes story,
a pivotal scene would be the motorway service station.
You and Clare on one side of the table, with Neil Fairbrother on the other,
and you saying to him, I'm done.
I don't want to play for England anymore.
At the time I was thinking I was playing for the wrong people,
and I was like, I'm not walking on the field,
putting my energies and efforts for these guys.
I had the warning signs of what was to come.
He lost the desire.
And it just wasn't Ben.
We talked about who you play for. And why you play.
I had to get over to him that he was playing cricket
for himself, his family, his team-mates.
That was what he played for. That is why he was so good.
And that is what we had to get back to.
The trial of Ben Stokes is approaching its conclusion.
It was almost as though people were just waiting for a guilty verdict.
Clare was squeezing my hand, as the jury came back in.
Just over an hour ago, the cricketer Ben Stokes
was found not guilty of affray.
He's now coming out of the court to make a statement on the steps.
The decision came after less than three hours.
The England cricketer was acquitted of affray.
Not guilty. Cleared of the charge.
As soon as I heard it, I just started to sob, just with relief.
The jury believed Stokes' version of events,
and unanimously found him not guilty.
It was just such a big moment.
That's when the emotion sets in,
and I guess you realize then what Ben and Clare had been going through.
Today's verdict represents the end of an 11-month ordeal for Ben,
during which time he's had to maintain his silence at times,
when many on social media, and certain parts of the press,
predetermined his guilt long before the trial began.
What was sad is, I naively thought, well, that's happened.
He's been found not guilty. That's that.
And of course, it wasn't.
Of course, people still wrote horrible things.
He's not streetwise off the pitch.
Ultimately, he's gotta look at himself in the mirror and change.
When you go through something as extreme as that,
it probably makes you realize who you can trust and who you can't,
who supports you and who doesn't.
What makes me happy, what doesn't.
It certainly made him, when he came back to cricket, much more professional.
He's always had an incredible amount of energy as a person,
and he was really burning that energy at training.
It made him grow up really quickly, in a very brutal way.
Sometimes I said to myself, if I'd just let that happen
and walked on, I wouldn't be here.
That wouldn't have happened.
But probably I'd never forgive myself ever for walking past something like that.
I'm gonna ask you a tricky question.
Did you feel let down by anyone in that period?
A few people, yeah. Quite a few of them wear a suit as well.
Do you feel that it's now passed or is that still there with you?
Still there. Always will be.
That week and that moment
changed Ben, wholly for the better.
Now, Ben is a different person to who he was, pre-Bristol, without doubt.
It really hurt him.
You could see that he felt like he'd let people down.
One of the hard things to see is someone that would never let anyone down,
would never want to let anyone down, going through those emotions.
I think the one thing I would say about Ben is...
not many people get to see the best side of him.
And not that that's anyone's fault,
but I'm just very grateful that I have.
I think in the build up to that summer, you'd really seen a different side of Ben.
It was just that added determination there,
to do well for his team-mates.
After everything that had happened in Bristol, this was his moment.
No way! No, no way.
You cannot do that, Ben Stokes.
That is one of the greatest catches of all time.
The hype around 2019 was massive.
We knew it was a World Cup year and an Ashes year.
It was all about cricket that summer.
Hit away over mid-on.
How fitting it is that Captain Morgan is the man that leads his team
to Lord's for a World Cup final.
It will be England or New Zealand.
Ben's profile had gone through the roof, for good and for bad.
He absolutely captured the imagination of the entire nation.
Everyone was watching it.
Cricket doesn't really get those moments.
He's obviously got a connection with New Zealand.
They class him as their own, but he's not theirs he's ours.
Slower ball. Now then. Now then.
Trent bowled again. Is this it? Is this it? And he's got it! It's six!
You're kidding me!
It just felt like this incredible atmosphere.
England had a good chance.
I don't think I've ever heard 30,000 people as loud.
Chaos is all around.
Archer. He's bowled him. Straight through. What a big last over we've got!
Now. This is really tense.
Rashid is a handy batsman.
Stokes is obviously shattered.
If Stokesy gets out here,
it's down to me and Rash, like, what are we gonna do?
Lord's is the most prim and proper place you could ever play cricket.
You've got this marble basin in the dressing room,
and I was thinking, can I be sick in there? Am I going to hurl here?
Fifteen from six.
A Yorker. He won't take the run. It makes it harder. 15 from five.
He said, no way. I've got to hit fours and sixes.
Five to go, 15 to win.
Another beautiful length delivery.
Stokes can do nothing with it.
We were under big pressure.
Two dot balls to start the over.
This is not going where we needed to go.
He is so feeling it.
And then pandemonium sets in.
Tries to back up.
I don't think Stokes can hear a thing.
On the money.
Is it out of the ground? It is! It is!
What a shot that is.
It's still on for both here.
Goes again. Can he give the strike away?
This is a big moment. They've gotta run!
They go to the other end. He gets in the way!
This has got to go all the way to the boundary for Ben.
Can you believe this? I do not believe what I've just seen!
It's three from two balls. If they get two runs, England.
Scores tied. Super over.
It's in the hands of Ben Stokes.
Here's Boult.
Down the ground. Now then.
They've got to try and come back. Santner throws it in.
Out! Rashid is out!
Rashid did the right thing. Sacrificed himself.
All I'm thinking of is just what happens if I slip or if I fall?
Make sure to tap your bat in.
When you're running, run as fast as you can.
Why don't you run down the steps so you're nice and warm.
He's coming out quicker than Usain Bolt.
So there was a million things going through me head.
What am I gonna say to Stokesy? Will he want me to say much?
Should I not say anything?
It isn't until I get in the middle and I see Stokesy,
and he's sort of like glazed over, his eyes.
He was totally in the zone.
So, I just thought, right, I'll just say it.
No matter what, I'm gonna run.
Here's Boult.
That was a push. Are we in for a super over?
They've gotta go quick. Got to go quick.
I'm sure, he's out!
We're going to a Super Over!
You are kidding me! You are kidding me!
The feeling I had at that time was walking off.
Should've easily done that,
should've won that off that last ball.
So, then I had to go out the back,
and just have five minutes to clear myself.
But actually, I went out and had a cigarette,
in the Lord's shower,
because I knew I had to get ready, go out and play another game.
I know some people will say it must've been chaotic,
and it must have been carnage in there, but it seemed pretty clear in my eyes.
People just knew what was happening.
I was absolutely all over the place.
I remember Jason Roy throwing fruit across the room,
Jos had thrown everything everywhere and punched the bed,
put the TV on, third umpire, people scrambling,
saying "do you know what I mean?" at the end of every sentence.
We're gonna win. Do you know what I mean?
Should we go on the field, do you know what mean?
Shall we take some catches, you know what I mean?
Everything was in sort of fast forward mode.
It's Stokes. It's Buttler. I think that's the right choice.
The right choice.
He just has that ability to carry a team.
He's always going to be involved in the big moments in the match.
Trent Boult to Stokes.
They can push for three, because Buttler's very quick.
Stokes is out on his feet, but he'll make it.
Three off the first.
The big moments find him.
Gap... Is it? Yes, it is.
He's done it again, Stokes.
This is a massive delivery in this World Cup.
Boult last ball. Buttler.
He gets it in a gap. He gets a boundary.
Fifteen off the Super Over.
Fifteen off Boult.
What he did was nothing short of amazing that day.
Whenever he's in a team,
everyone tries to raise their standards to meet his.
He's the guy that everyone else is gonna wanna play their best
or their smartest game around,
and that can only ever benefit the team.
Fourteen one day internationals in Jofra Archer's career.
He is tasked with bowling the super over.
He just said that it doesn't matter the result here today.
It doesn't define you as a person or a player.
That's the biggest thing he could've said to me then and there.
Archer. A wide. It is a wide.
It's a freebie for New Zealand. It's pressure on a young man.
Here's Archer again.
That's got it! It's huge! It's gone! It's out of the park!
Boom! Seven from four now.
You feel for Archer. You feel for him.
Neesham gets him again. Guptill says yes.
A misfield! More pressure!
2016 T20 World Cup Final was a rough night for me.
I was there in Jofra's shoes, so I knew how he was feeling.
Two from one!
Whatever happens here, it's not gonna define your career.
Yes folks. This is the moment. It's Archer to Guptill.
Two to win. Guptill's gonna push for two. They've got to go. It's got to...
The keeper's in. He's got him.
England have won the World Cup by the barest of margins!
By the barest of margins!
It's ecstasy for England!
England claimed their first cricket World Cup on a London day
that none of us will ever forget.
I don't do what I do to make people think good of me.
Everyone's got a right to an opinion and judgement of someone,
and if you think good of me, then great.
If you think badly of me, then I'm not gonna let that affect me.
At the end of the game, I just cried my eyes out.
I was probably the most hated father in New Zealand.
I do what I do because I love the sport.
The player of the match, Ben Stokes!
I love being in a team and sharing moments with other people
who are part of that team,
whether it be players, or backroom staff or management, who all have the same goal.
And from a selfish point of view, I do it
because there's security for my family as well.
-What is going on, Reuben? -I can't believe it!
What is happening?
-What? -I can't believe it.
As good as it is walking out and representing your country.
And every time you do it, you walk out there
with so much pride, having those three lions on your chest.
But there is more to it.
Mark, what do you think?
222 for 2. Good score. I wanna have a poo.
I wanna have a poo too, Richie.
One person in particular tried asking me for a selfie.
And he was someone who wears a suit.
I turned around, and told him to fuck off.
If this person didn't know how I felt towards him,
they did know the night of the World Cup final.
Covid touring is really brutally quite tough.
You feel really restricted.
It can build up anxiety levels, feeling stuck inside hotel rooms.
It's been a really unpleasant couple of years.
It's the amount of time you spend away from the people you care about.
That's the hardest thing.
The times when you've been from the hotel room, to the ground,
just back to your hotel room.
Staring at four walls all the time, there's a gradual build up.
I think that's the hardest thing about that bubble environment.
There's no escape, there's nowhere to go.
Time is a tough one in terms of cricket.
Cricket is a long game.
There's a lot of time you're actually not involved,
and the game allows your thoughts to run away with you.
When you're in a very good space, it's fantastic.
But there can be some negative times
and tough times where you're under pressure,
and that time can be really tough to deal with.
The thing I've found the hardest is if you've had a family member
that has not been feeling very well or going through an issue
and you're locked away in a hotel room,
that makes you feel helpless
and a bit useless.
You feel very trapped.
Being restricted and being dictated and being told
what we can and can't do on a daily basis, eventually just gets to you.
My dad was sick for a long time.
Cricket was dictating when I could go and see him.
Not being able to spend time with mum, dad, brother,
family when he's getting worse.
It's tough.
Every bat I've got...
My mum hates this bit about me coming back home,
because I just make the garage an absolute mess with all my cricket kit.
But just shut the door and it's all right.
Regripping my bats again, Dad.
-These were brand new yesterday. -They all come loose again?
No, there's holes in them, look. From slogging.
Mum and Dad moved back to New Zealand when I was just 21,
so seeing each other isn't actually that common.
But I'm a massive believer in family comes before everything else.
Come on!
I remember when Ben used to use all my old bats.
So, he used to regrip them all and that. He's been doing it since he was a kid.
And I still haven't been able to get the perfect one, Dad.
I spoke to our sports psychologist,
and as I was talking, you know, when you start to get emotional,
your jaw starts to wobble and you can feel it,
and you're trying to hold it back. But that's the first time I properly cried
about what's going on with Dad.
It was terminal brain cancer.
So, I had to come out here and spend as much time as I could.
You sort of shiver when you hear terminal illness.
Brain cancer tends to give you a bit of a scare,
'cause you just don't know if you're going to be the same person
when you wake up the next day.
So, this is Libby's end of year dance.
This was the big performance, wasn't it? Yeah.
-There we go. -Here we go.
There she is.
I felt like I stood in his pathway a little bit,
by having some of these illnesses that I've had over the past few years.
And it's been weighing on his mind as well as trying to do
what he needs to do for his team, and for his family and himself. So...
I think it's just a tribute to how strong and mentally tough he is,
to be able to get through all this.
You will have seen him saluting his dad and that's something
that was a tradition way back,
but it's now obviously a bit of folklore, really.
Kids were...
-Were just fascinated by it weren't, we? -Fascinated by...
What happened to your finger, grandy?
Got bitten off by a crocodile, and that stayed in the family forever.
So, what actually did happen was, I was playing for Canterbury,
and my finger got caught up in the turnover of a player's sock.
When I looked down, I saw my finger sticking out this way.
When I saw the doctor, she said, it looks like I have to lop that off.
But that was the way it was.
You either played or you didn't get paid in those days.
We are going down to Sydenham for me to have a bowl.
Fondly known as the SCG.
It's where the actual cricketer of the family plays cricket. My mother.
I think we got everything.
Look like a gangster from the '70s.
Since I've been here, it's been a noticeable change.
It takes a bit longer getting into a car nowadays.
It's only because I'm totally unorganized.
Are you all right? Do you feel warm in that, Dad?
Yes.
Mornings, he's absolutely great.
As the day peters on, you can see how just being awake makes him tired
and really wears him out.
He's not quite sure what's going on.
And it is sad to see this man that I grew up around,
this big physically strong man just deteriorate quickly.
-Here's the old man. -Someone else who knows you, Dad.
He's always bumping into people he sees.
-You all right mate? -Every day is another day.
We all move on, don't we?
Every third person probably knows who he is.
-Hey fellas. -You all right?
Fucking freezing. It's like being in Durham.
Dad's my biggest fan, but also my biggest critic.
That was very nearly a big fat no ball, Ben Stokes.
Ben. You're going over on your knee.
I'm what?
I said you're going over on your knee.
Being a coach for so many years obviously brings that critic side out.
Shot!
He's getting pissed off with himself now.
And there's definitely a big element of Stokes'
stubbornness in there as well which he gets very much from his father.
I'm going a bit faster. You guys are too slow.
Gerard? Don't go, go down the path, love.
She's an amazing woman. To do what she does with Dad,
and the job that she does as the victim support officer,
with families who have gone through horrific crimes.
Here they come.
Congregating, aren't they?
She is the person to go and speak to them, and help them get through it
as much as she possibly can.
To be able to stay so focused, I just don't know how she does it.
She's incredible.
-They'll peck your fingers, eh? -They do that.
Oi! Stop! Trying to bite my finger off.
This one got mine before.
I think we are a positive family. And I think that's a really good lesson
that sport teaches throughout life, you know.
Sport will throw things at you that you've just got to deal with.
All fed. Now they're off.
They won't hang around long. Now they know the bread has gone.
Yeah.
If you don't deal with it, you get second.
And second is not an option at the moment.
Second is not a good deal.
Probably the hardest thing to think about is,
when I leave here,
it's more than likely going to be the last time I do see him
before the inevitable happens.
All the fans out there around the world love match winners.
You can go and ask any fan about any player
now or that's played in recent times.
You can ask them what they average, they wouldn't have a clue.
But what they remember is how they played the game.
And Ben plays the game in the right way.
I wish he was on our side.
Everyone asks what's so important about the Ashes?
Why does it grab everyone's attention?
I think it's the history.
The reputation of Don Bradman had preceded him.
The amazing things that both England and Australian players have done.
He's out! Ten wickets to Laker!
There's an extra intensity.
Every ball is a contest.
Bowled him!
I hated losing.
But when you lose to England, it hurts more.
Not worth looking for that, let alone chasing it.
Hurts like a dagger.
No matter what you do against anybody else,
people remember what you do in the Ashes series.
He's so good.
Basically, defines your career.
You just can't let England win.
At the highest level of international sport,
is an incredible amount of pressure.
You give people enormous amounts of joy.
What do you think it is in you that makes those things possible for you,
beyond just sporting talent?
I don't know.
Do you think if you get closer to that, you'd get close to understanding
what you're going through now as well?
Australia held the Ashes.
England lost the first test at Edgbaston.
Going into Headingley, it's one-nil down.
They cannot lose this.
The more I've played Ashes cricket, the more I respect it.
It's a war on that cricket pitch.
We won the toss and bowled, and we bowled beautifully.
And that's what the captain wanted.
Jofra's got a six, and Australia are all out!
What a day this has turned out to be for England!
Turned up the next morning, what a great opportunity this is.
And England will need a nice, solid start.
Edged and gone.
Come on!
Got him, he's out for a naught.
Stokes is the man in form.
He's dragged it out wide, and it's a wicket.
Goodness me!
Ben Stokes now, atrocious shot.
Well, England clearly don't want to win the Ashes
because they gifted Australia wickets.
Oh, yes!
Got him! Australia have turned this match.
England, they have crumbled in the most dismal fashion.
We're at the bottom of the mountain again.
We're in a terrible position.
I just fear that it's gonna get very ugly for England.
Seems like the writing's on the wall.
This could be the session where the Ashes are retained...
Edged. Oh, my God!
When things aren't going right for you, they're really not going right.
Got him! Stokes has now got a wicket.
He's running and he's running and he could not get the ball
out of his hands.
Yeah, he's gone.
Ben Stokes gets a reward for a magnificent spell of bowling.
In any test match around the world, to chase down 359 as a final score
is pretty much unheard of.
As someone who was there at Headingley, I totally wrote them off.
No one chases down three-five-nine.
England require 359 to win the test match.
Australia, ten wickets to retain the Ashes.
The history books are against England.
Let's be honest, 359? Very little chance.
He won't talk now. He doesn't have his big boys around.
How many runs until he starts talking? 20, 30?
Catch!
Yes!
The lions are definitely out.
Another bloke who likes a word when all his mates are around.
Standing by himself down here, very little.
Fuck off! Fucking prick! Fuck me!
This was gonna be the series gone.
I'll tell you what he does, he looks straight at the screen
to see if he's on screen.
Yes!
Don't worry Stokesy, I think me and you make a good combination bro.
Fuck you!
Biggest thing for me on that evening of day three
was just grinding it out.
Keep this pressure on, we'll get two more tonight, boys.
New ball in the morning. Come on.
Starting the morning of day four was the most important bit.
Nicely played. England gets through to the close. Three down.
Didn't say a lot to me throughout that period.
Clear as day, he just wants to make sure he's there in the morning.
You could just see he's absolutely exhausted.
It is the day we came for.
There's no bigger occasion.
203, a lot of runs.
All test cricket is a mental game.
Ashes cricket particularly.
You want to look your opposition member in the eye,
and you know that it's battle.
Another one on the head.
You good Stokesy?
Tough guy now?
It's the honor of playing for your country,
and representing people.
But you wanna win that individual battle right now.
-Catch it. -Yes!
And the skipper's gone.
What a breakthrough for Australia. And with that, is it the Ashes?
-Good game, mate. -Was that another non-conversion by Rooty?
It's a huge test of skill.
But a greater test of your character.
Catch!
And now, Hazelwood has got his man!
How clear you can think under pressure.
How strong you can stay in big moments.
As that game unfolds, he takes it further and further and further.
You get hope, you get belief.
Come on!
Trouble... gone!
There was a mix up between Stokes and Buttler.
And then it gets taken away from you again.
Half century for Ben Stokes.
Well, he kept England in the game with the ball,
now he's keeping England in the game with the bat.
Be a good man and just nick one for us Woakesy.
Just nick it. That's all we're asking Woakesy.
Gone.
Stokes just had a word with Archer.
Just stay with me.
Catch!
Out!
I'm not addicted to throwing a cricket ball,
but I am addicted to the pressure.
When the heat's on, when you're trying to control your emotions...
Heady they know you're there. They know you're there, Heady.
...but you can't get them to go too high
because you'll lose the clarity of thought.
It's out!
Walked back devastated. Ashes are gone.
The last hope, the last man is Jack Leach.
Nine wickets down. It felt like all hope was lost.
And I certainly stopped believing.
I remember being sat next to Joe and he's saying, Ben can do this.
Just out of politeness, you're like, yeah, of course he can.
When Leachy came in, there was no other way
that I could have played it.
Too much on his mind, too much on his mind.
When he came out to bat, I just told him,
I'm gonna face four balls of the over, or five.
You're only gonna have to face two balls or one.
Anything outside of that, just don't worry.
Hazelwood. Can't get there!
It's another six down the ground from Stokes.
Anybody who says that they don't get nervous, they don't feel pressure,
it's just a crock of shit.
What a shot that is!
England need 50 to win.
If you don't have those feelings, you don't have those nerves,
then you're not human.
Again, huge cheers as Leach gets in behind him.
Scooped again. Scooped fine.
It's gone all the way.
And he's taken England to within 40 of winning the game.
Leach now has one ball to survive from Cummins.
And the crowd, listen to them. They're going off...
Slow ball, drag leg side. Drag to the boundary.
A 100 for Ben Stokes. What a summer he's having.
What a cricketer he is!
It's not just a fluke, that he's one of the best cricket players in the world.
Up in the air. That's all the way, isn't it? It is all the way!
Ten off two!
There is a performance standard that you have to reach.
Up in the air again, Western Terrace again. Six again!
The ability to take on board everything that you need,
to become the most successful at what you do.
In the air. Big cry of catch. Third man comes in. Doesn't carry.
It's also about your mind.
Punched down the ground.
And, four! Single figures. It's down to nine!
You have to push yourself.
It's down the ground. Mid-off is there. It's long enough!
It's six!
Knowing how far you can push yourself.
Stokes can't watch down the other end.
And that's a good block.
To be able to transfer your desire into those difficult situations.
Sweeping hit. Could be a run out. He's fumbled.
He's fumbled. Lyon has fumbled!
I have gone through my career fearing failure.
Now. Now everyone looks. They needed that review.
Rather than fearing failure, embrace it.
One to tie, two to win.
Yes, it's a call, they'll sneak one. Scores are level.
He can do it when he has to do it.
There is a difference between good and great.
That would be the proudest moment of my life.
Players like Ben, they capture the imagination of the nation.
The way he can do things with his calm,
I think that's the magic of Ben Stokes.
He has that bit that no one else has.
You fucking beauty!
Oh, my God. Oh, my God.
That was unbelievable.
Unbelievable, son.
Do you even need me? Or can we just get Ben in here?
That's right... I struggle to put that into words. Are you able to?
No.
Just ridiculous, wasn't it?
Ben is a hero.
It will go down as the greatest innings
that has ever been played in an Ashes test match.
I used to say with actors, who do you do it for?
Did you feel that you did it for your dad?
I knew how much he cared about me and sport and me playing cricket.
But then when he became terminally ill,
everything I do is for dad.
And now he's not here.
He's taken that with him.
When he passed away, it was like,
you need to find that other reason why I played before.
And to be honest, unfortunately, the moment since he's passed, I haven't...
got that back.
You can't hide behind it. You can't help the way you feel,
and the more you try and compress it down,
the worse it's going to be. And that's...
what I felt like happened to me.
I just kept on trying to wake up and pull your head out your ass.
Like crack on.
The worse it got.
How long was it before you said anything to anyone?
I mean, the first time I ever mentioned it was to, you know,
in Nottingham, in my hotel when I rang Neil
at six o'clock in the morning.
That's the first time. And that's two weeks ago?
How long before that have you been experiencing some version of it
before you called Neil?
Since dad got sick.
There was just a real change with...
To me, like my training,
outside of my cricket stuff, took a big hit,
because I just didn't have the...
enthusiasm or the...
determination to go and do that extra stuff anymore.
And then, you know, waking up
and having no energy,
sort of got into this mindset where
the only things that I could think about cricket were negative,
which is shit because of how much it's given me.
But even still, I'm sat here, I'm still, like, thinking about that.
And it's not a nice place to be in.
Ben Stokes dominated a sensational summer of English cricket.
Today, he hit out at the Sun Newspaper
for publishing a story he described as despicable.
The England all-rounder has never spoken publicly
about the murders of his half-sister Tracy and half-brother Andrew,
three years before he was born.
The Sun has told the BBC that the events it described
were a matter of public record.
Ben Stokes' response was scathing.
In a statement, he wrote,
"I cannot conceive of anything more immoral,
"heartless or contemptuous to the feelings and circumstances of my family."
The paper's decision to publish the story will have grave and lifelong consequences
for his mother, in particular.
My mum recently finished off a two-year legal battle with The Sun,
and the reason that that happened was because of cricket.
I had a good 2019, so then the...
newspaper brings out an article that opens up a lot of scars for my mum,
a lot of wounds.
My then ex-partner and father to my two children,
had murdered my children and then committed suicide.
The day that that, you know, knocked on our door,
is a day that I will never, ever forget.
The only reason that somebody would do something like this
was because Ben is our son.
And I just... I felt sick.
Having something that is really nobody's business,
put all over the papers,
I was really quite frightened about what would happen.
We didn't go to court, but The Sun had a copy of my victim impact statement.
I would have read it quite happily in open court.
So, I sent it to him, and he couldn't finish it.
He couldn't finish reading it.
Having to read her victim impact statement of that article
was the last nail on the coffin for me.
I've never asked fully about that whole night,
and don't think I ever will.
But, yeah, having to read what
memories it brought back for her, from that article was very tough.
Made me feel sick.
This is a sort of list, a litany.
Your dad has died, your mum has been through an incredibly stressful period,
Bristol, global pandemic...
I think anyone is gonna think it's an incredibly stressful period.
And I think that one thing is, it's very clear, in a way,
all the different things that have gone into it.
Well, I know I've got to, like, you know,
talk to people, and stuff like that, and...
And...
That's one thing that I've never been is a... is a talker.
I had a chat with my mum about a week ago,
and she was like, in the 30 years that you've been on this earth,
we've never had a conversation like this before.
Even the fact that we're sat here talking about all this kind of stuff is,
as a mum, I know that some things aren't quite right with you at the moment.
When he will return to the crease is uncertain.
The England and Wales cricket board confirmed he's taking an indefinite break
from all cricket, with immediate effect.
I just needed to be on the end of the phone and be his mum.
That was my job.
I wasn't surprised.
Something had to give, and I was...
incredibly proud of him.
Why did you feel...
You...
You felt responsible because you felt, if I weren't famous,
then nobody would be interested in reading this in print.
-It would just be-- -It wouldn't even have came out.
No, of course. But it's not your fault that it happened.
The things that happened to him.
Some incredible highs.
Some really tough moments.
Now, when you look back, you see that pressure cooker.
But if there's anyone out there that you thought
would be able to handle everything that's happening to them,
it would be Ben.
He rang me up early one morning.
He was...
Sorry, it's difficult to
take myself back. I remember being really...
I found it a really difficult conversation.
It was important to him, to show people that this can happen
to someone that can be perceived as invincible.
I spent a lot of time with Stokesy during his break.
I never once asked him about cricket.
And never did he once mention cricket to me.
Honestly, I could have seen him never playing again.
When Ben lost his love for the game, I never truly believed
that he wouldn't play cricket again.
The love of the sport he has is so big,
he wants to keep the fight up.
Obviously, I took some time out. Three months since taking that break,
and I never spoke about this kind of stuff, really.
I was catastrophizing quite badly.
Never thought I'd be on medication to help me with that kind of stuff.
But I'm not embarrassed or ashamed to say it,
'cause I needed the help at the time.
Now the anxiety, I don't even feel it happen anymore.
Can I see what you got me?
Since the second surgery, that has been a game changer.
He's just been in such a better mood.
Let's have a look dude...
Thank God we're seeing a bit more of an end of this now, some positive news.
I've already got this one!
-Have you? -Yeah!
Now you got two!
I've been having sessions with the doctor, from all the mental side of things,
and he did say that,
there will be something that will pull you back.
Not sure what it is, but we will when it happens.
That feeling I had when the surgeon took my screws out of my finger,
and showed me how much freer my finger was moving,
was a huge... huge moment for me.
It was almost like a spark had been reignited within me.
I just couldn't wait to get back and test it all out.
When I first started hitting balls, and I was pain free,
and I was just, you know, I felt like a little kid again.
This is a sort of list, a litany.
Your dad's died, Bristol, global pandemic...
I think anyone is going to think, it's an incredibly stressful period.
Sitting down and watching me do that.
That was a real eye opener as to how fucked things were for me back then.
I noticed how emotionless I was.
I couldn't really remember much about what I was saying.
Every time Sam was asking me a question,
I was like, I wonder what I said to this.
Never seen myself like that before.
Good. We'll have a little break there, for a cup of coffee.
I've gone through that.
I'm not out on the other side yet.
But to be able to manage it every day, I see that as a huge accomplishment.
I'm sure that the groundsman's too keen.
Now I understand what it's like being filmed.
Should I hit it over the club house?
-Go on then. -I did that plenty of times as a kid.
Horrible.
Never put your boxer in your real underpants.
There's a quote that I'm fond of.
I've used it about what I do for a living.
A man's work is nothing more or less,
than the slow trek to rediscover
those great and simple images,
in the presence of which his heart first opened.
-No idea what you just said. -Yeah.
The experiences that Ben has had,
they are written into speeches by counties,
speeches by the ECB.
People hear about the trials and tribulations of Ben.
The way that he has come back from adversity, on numerous occasions.
He's learnt lessons along the way.
The cricketing world needs the likes of Ben Stokes,
to play the game the way he does,
to attract people to come into our game.
Ben Stokes has been named as the new captain
of the England men's test cricket team...
Ben Stokes is the new captain of the England men's cricket team.
Ben, congratulations. And how does it feel to be the England captain?
Sorry.
-How are you? -Congratulations.
Hello, Ben.
There's always a negative feeling around mental health,
but I see it as a positive that
me being in this role now,
having gone through what I went through last summer, and even before that,
I've got a huge amount of experience in what the game and what life
can throw at you.
The start of a new era.
He's going to be a wonderful leader.
He's going to be a leader where guys will go with him.
This is our team and we're the ones
who are going to dictate what happens in this dressing room.
Hammering it away. It's the victory of the series for Stokes
as the new England captain.
I'm a full man, as a phoenix.
The saying of the phoenix rising out of the ashes,
was pretty much perfect for me.
This isn't just a meaningful or a bad night on the cricket field.
It represents a lot of stuff I've had to rise out of the ashes from.
Life throws so many things at you.
You've just got to try your best to overcome that.
There's light on the other side.