Dropped England captain Ben Stokes was denied a wicket with just his fourth ball as he returned to action for Durham in their County Championship match against Northamptonshire on Friday.
Stokes and England teammate Gus Atkinson were dropped from the ongoing second test against New Zealand at The Oval after breaking a team curfew to celebrate the hosts’ win in the series opener at Lord’s.
That decision led to a flurry of speculation over Stokes’s international future amid concerns that the 35-year-old allrounder might be stripped of the England captaincy, stand down by himself, or even walk away from representing his country permanently.
But British media reports on Thursday indicated that Stokes could return to test duty as soon as next week’s series finale against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.
After Durham captain Alex Lees elected to bowl first, Stokes was greeted warmly by the crowd in Chester-le-Street.
And there was more applause when the allrounder came on as first-change in Durham’s attack.
Northamptonshire’s Ricardo Vasconcelos clipped the fourth ball of Stokes’s first over straight to Ben McKinney at leg-slip, only for the fielder to drop the catch.
Atkinson was also in Championship action for Surrey on Friday and the seamer had Glamorgan’s Kiran Carlson caught behind before bowling Ben Kellaway as he took 2-8 in his eight overs – including five maidens – before lunch.