'F**k off Stuart Broad' - Ben Stokes openly abuses England legend

England Test captain Ben Stokes abused his former teammate Stuart Broad on X after the former English pacer targetted the all-rounder for his "dodgy knee". 

Ben Stokes, who had announced last month that he will not be taking part in England's title defense at the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, is currently playing county cricket. The all-rounder had taken that decision in order to manage his knee injury as well as his workload for the upcoming jampacked summer of cricket. 

Why did Ben Stokes opt out of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024? 

But that was not it. The main reason behind Ben Stokes pulling out of the T20 World Cup 2024 was to keep himself fresh for all of England's red-ball affairs this summer. For that particular reason, Stokes had also opted out of playing in IPL 2024 as he wanted to rest his knee and make sure he returned to the Test team as a proper all-rounder who can bowl as well. 

Last year after the Cricket World Cup 2023, Ben Stokes underwent knee surgery. His knee injury had kept him away from bowling at full intensity and it was something that Stokes didn't like at all. Given the type of player he has been, the all-rounder wanted to do everything he could to make sure he could bowl. 

In the interview with ECB about a month ago, Ben Stokes admitted that he felt he was far behind his best in terms of bowling. He took the India vs England Test series as an avenue to figure out where his bowling was headed. Therefore, he opted out of IPL and decided to be available for Durham in the summer's county championship. 

Also to keep himself prepared for the 3-Test match series against West Indies and Sri Lanka, Ben Stokes didn't want to play any white-ball cricket.  

"The recent Test tour of India highlighted how far behind I was from a bowling point of view after my knee surgery and nine months without bowling. I’m looking forward to playing for Durham in the County Championship before the start of our Test summer. I wish Jos, Motty, and all the team the best of luck in defending our title," Stokes had said via ECB. 

Why did Stokes abuse Stuart Broad? 

Earlier this month, Stokes appeared for Durham for their clash against Lancashire. While he couldn't do anything special with the bat, Stokes was able to contribute with the ball, picking up 2 wickets in the 1st innings and then ending the match with a 5-wicket haul. 

F**k off Stuart what dodgy knee 😉 https://t.co/fKul70sLkR

— Ben Stokes (@benstokes38) May 25, 2024

Yesterday against Somerset, Ben Stokes scalped a total of 8 wickets across innings with Durham winning the match within 2 days. His performance was widely appreciated by ex-England cricketers with Stuart Broad also expressing his thoughts on Stokes' bowling. 

Broad took to X and reposted the video of Stokes' 10-over bowling spell with a caption that read, "Hi Ben. Love you & you have a heart of a lion. Please stop bowling 10 overs spells with a dodgy knee." 

In response, Ben Stokes retweeted Stuart Broad's post and asked the latter as to which dodgy knee was he talking about. "F**k off Stuart what dodgy knee," he replied.