He now intends to play two four-day matches for Durham – against Worcestershire (May 8) and Kent (May 15) – and will also consider playing for the Lions in a first-class match against South Africa A at Arundel (May 22) before linking up with England for the first Test against New Zealand at Lord’s on June 4.

In a pre-recorded interview with the ECB’s in-house media team, released on Wednesday, Stokes described his facial injuries as the result of a “freak incident” and said that they could easily have been far worse. “I copped one straight in the face,” he said. “[It was] pretty nasty, but funnily [enough], probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest.

“A couple of inches one way or the other and I might not be here doing this interview if I didn’t turn my head around. All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out… I’ve got quite lucky, so I’m pretty thankful for that.” He added: “It was a pretty scary situation to be in, but thankfully I’m still here and everything’s alright.”

Stokes said that the blow had set his return back by “about a month [to] five weeks” and that his potential Lions appearance would depend on “how I feel” and his workload for Durham. “If I can get through the loads that I want to get through and feel pretty good out in the middle, then hopefully I’ll be good to go for the summer,” he said.