"Hopefully, it might be able to help people" - Ben Stokes on his revealing documentary
England Test captain Ben Stokes hopes his new documentary will inspire people to bounce back from the tough times in their lives. The all-rounder also wants to encourage people to share their experiences as he has.
The documentary 'Ben Stokes: Pheonix from the Ashes' releases on Friday, which will also be Day Two of the second Test between England and South Africa in Manchester.
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The documentary will cover the events of the cricketer's life, dating back to the infamous brawl in Bristol in 2017, his father's death in 2020, and the anxiety attacks which forced the Englishman to take a break from cricket in 2021.
Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of the second Test against the Proteas, the 31-year-old said the first thing he thought about after seeing the documentary was whether it could help people. Stokes said:
"When the project had finished, and I watched it back for the first time, the first impressions I got were that, hopefully, it might be able to help people. The experiences I went through are something that a lot of people go through but sometimes you don't feel like you can share.
"Me being me, and the platform that I have got, from a non-selfish point of view it was something I wanted to do."
Stokes believes that people seeing him as England's Test captain could also inspire them to achieve something despite setbacks. He continued:
"To be here as England Test captain is hopefully something people can take a lot of promise from and see that even when you do feel down and dark you can bounce back and achieve something you want."
"I don't think a bowler has ever bowled without pain" - Ben Stokes
The seam-bowling all-rounder recently opened up on his knee problems, saying that sometimes it can look worse due to how he offloads the ball while bowling. Stokes explained:
"It's one of those things where I have to see how we go. I don't think a bowler has ever bowled without pain. Sometimes, it looks a little bit worse than what it is because of how I offload the ball. Some days good, some days bad. It is what it is."
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Former England seamer Steve Harmison had warned Ben Stokes that his Test career may not last long if his heavy bowling workload continues. Harminson told talkSport2:
"Somebody’s going to have to go to him and tap him on the shoulder and say, ‘Right, the positive outcome of this situation is you’re going to have to stop bowling like that because you’ve retired from modern-day cricket, to prolong your test match career.'"