England cricket captain Ben Stokes is one of the nation’s best-ever sportsmen, having lifted two World Cups and enjoyed stellar success with both bat and ball. Defined by his bullish playing style and a never-give-up mentality, Stokes is often in the spotlight for his actions on the pitch, not his life off it. But the cricket star recently revealed his family home in the North East of England was burgled by masked robbers, who stole ‘irreplaceable items’ and left an ‘emotional and mental’ scar.

The New Zealand-born ace claimed via an emotional social media statement that the incident took place while his wife and two children were present in the home. He said: "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 is married to wife Clare, 34, with the pair having first met in 2010 before tying the knot in 2017, four years after announcing their engagement.

They got married at St Mary the Virgin church in East Brent, with a full complement of Stokes’ team-mates, including Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Joe Root, Eoin Morgan, and Alastair Cook, present at the ceremony. A post shared by Clare Stokes (@clarey11) It’s reported by The Sun that Clare was studying for her PGCE.