Last Updated on 5 years by Charbel Coorey

Ben Stokes, England’s star all-rounder, is out of the remaining two Tests of England’s series against Pakistan due to family reasons. England Cricket released a statement on Sunday, respectfully requesting that the media respects the family’s privacy at this time.

“The England and Wales Cricket Board, along with the Stokes family, requests that all media respects the family’s privacy at this time,” the statement said.

Stokes will travel to New Zealand later this week to be with his family. His father, Ged, was hospitalised in Johannesburg with a “serious illness” during the England winter, and has since been recovering in New Zealand.

Stokes has played a key role for England with both bat and ball, particularly in the past 12 to 18 months. Recently, he achieved a very rare feat of scoring 250+ runs and take three wickets in a single Test.

England will surely miss Stokes, but family comes first. We wish he and his family all the very best during this time.