Stokes strikes after eight balls on comeback

Ben Stokes needed only eight deliveries to take a wicket in his first action since England's dismal Ashes tour on the opening day of Durham's County Championship match at Worcestershire.

Opening the bowling, the England captain had Worcestershire opener Dan Lategan caught behind from the second ball of his second over.

Later, with his first delivery after an hour-long break for rain, Stokes rushed through the defence of Adam Hose, who was bowled for 59.

Playing for the first time since the fifth Test against Australia in Sydney in January, Stokes bowled two spells of four overs and one of six - the latter either side of what was the second rain break of the day.

Overall, the all-rounder ended with figures of 2-40 from his 14 overs as Worcestershire reached 209-7 from the 66 overs that were possible.

That represented a recovery from 52-4 thanks to Hose and 41 by skipper Brett D'Oliveira.

Stokes was struck by a quad injury in the final Test of England's 4-1 defeat in Australia.

On his return to the UK, the 34-year-old then suffered a horrific broken cheek when he was hit by a ball while coaching the Durham academy.

He required what he described as "pretty major facial surgery" and said he felt "lucky" to still be alive.

Stokes missed Durham's first four matches of the season as he recovered, and had long identified the trip to New Road as his first action of the season in the build-up to England's first Test against New Zealand, beginning on 4 June.

Stokes' last match for Durham came almost two years ago against the same opponents, while his first match after being made Test captain in 2022 also came on this ground.

On this occasion, with fellow England international Matthew Potts rested after a heavy early season workload, Stokes was required to take the new ball for only the fifth time in his first-class career.

Looking lean and with a spring in his approach to the crease, Stokes immediately bowled with pace and extracted bounce from an encouraging surface.

Two balls into his second over, Stokes enticed left-hander Lategan to push at a back-of-a-length delivery outside the off stump, with a healthy edge held by wicketkeeper Ollie Robinson.