"Many of those items are irreplaceable" - Ben Stokes shares details of masked people burgling his home with family present
England's Test captain Ben Stokes has shared that some masked people burgled his home in the presence of his family, escaping with 'irreplaceable' personal items. He also released pictures of some stolen items hoping cops could track down the culprits.
Stokes recently led England in the third Test against Pakistan in Rawalpindi. The visitors suffered a nine-wicket defeat to concede the series 2-1. The captain had a poor game, registering scores of 12 & 3.
On Wednesday, October 30, the England Test skipper took to his official X handle and posted details of the break-in at his home. He wrote:
"On the evening of Thursday 17th October a number of masked people burgled my home in the Castle Eden area in the North East. They escaped with jewellery, other valuables and a good deal of personal items. Many of those items have real sentimental value for me and my family. They are irreplaceable. This is an appeal for any help in finding these people who carried out this act."
The 33-year-old further revealed that his wife and two kids were present at home when the crime took place, but luckily were not harmed physically.
"By far the worst thing about this crime is that it was carried out whilst my wife and 2 young children were in the house. Thankfully, none of my family came to any physical harm. Understandably, however, the experience has had an impact on their emotional and mental state. All we can think about is how much worse this situation could have been," Stokes wrote.
"I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items - which I hope may be easily identified - in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this. Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this," the England all-rounder added.
Stokes concluded the note by thanking the police service and describing their support to his family both now and while he was away in Pakistan as 'outstanding'.
Ben Stokes admitted that England failed to respond to challenges in Pakistan
England made a good start to their tour of Pakistan, clinching the first Test in Multan by an innings and 47 runs. However, the hosts made a brilliant comeback to win the next two games and clinch the series.
Reflecting on the series defeat, England captain Stokes acknowledged:
"The last couple of Tests, we have been thrown some challenges and I think it is pretty easy to assess that we were not able to stand up to them. The great thing about sport is that those challenges will always come along but in the last two games we weren't able to match what Pakistan threw at us... It's incredibly disappointing to lose a Test match."
Saud Shakeel was named Player of the Match and Sajid Khan Player of the Series as Pakistan pulled off a series win over England against the odds.