Ben Stokes left school with one GCSE and became England's great all-rounder
Born in Christchurch, New Zealand, Ben Stokes moved to Cumbria at 12 when his father took a rugby league coaching job, and left school at 16 with a single qualification, in PE. He went on to win two World Cups with England, captain the Test side and set records nobody had managed before.
His father Gerard was a rugby league player and coach, and his mother has Māori heritage. In Cockermouth, Stokes helped the local cricket club win its league title aged just 15. Signed by Durham, he dismissed the veteran Mark Ramprakash with only his third ball in professional cricket in 2009, and he scored a century at the 2010 Under-19 World Cup.
His England Test career began on the 2013–14 Ashes tour, where England were whitewashed 5–0 but Stokes, the 658th man to play Tests for his country, made the only English century of the series on a fast, bouncy pitch at the WACA. Two winters later in Cape Town he walked in at 167–4 facing a hat-trick ball and hit 258, still the Test world record for a number six. His partnership of 399 with Jonny Bairstow set a new world best for the sixth wicket.
The biggest days came in finals. At the 2019 World Cup he top-scored in England's innings and then batted in the tied Super Over, earning Man of the Match, and that year brought the ICC's top men's award and BBC Sports Personality of the Year. He top-scored again as England won the 2022 T20 World Cup. Wisden named him the world's leading cricketer in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
Made Test captain in April 2022, he led the side until 2026. He broke his coach Brendon McCullum's record of 107 Test sixes in February 2023 and ended with 138, and played his 100th Test against India on 15 February 2024. On return to Durham in May 2022 he smashed 161 from 88 balls, including five sixes in a row in one over. He retired from international cricket on 29 June 2026.
Source: Ben Stokes
