Ben Stokes’ father rushed to hospital in ‘critical condition’ on England’s tour of South Africa

Ged Stokes was taken in with a ‘serious illness’ on Monday evening

England‘s preparations for the Boxing Day Test against South Africa have been overshadowed by crisis after Ben Stokes‘ father, Ged, was rushed to hospital in “critical condition” on Monday evening.

Ged Stokes had travelled to South Africa to spend Christmas with Ben and to watch the first test at SuperSport Park, but the England and Wales Cricket Board announced that the former rugby league player had been taken in with a “serious illness”.

Stokes was due to join his teammates in a Christmas Eve training session in Centurion, 45 minutes north of Johannesburg, but will instead be with his family.

No comment has been made on whether Stokes, who captured the sporting world with his performances at the Cricket World Cup and the Ashes, will feature in the first Test.

The ECB said in a statement today: “The England and Wales Cricket Board, with the support of Ben and his family, request that the media and public respect Ben and his family’s privacy at this time.”

Stokes senior, 64, played one rugby league Test for New Zealand in 1982 and first moved to England as a player with Workington Town.

He later coached the team, as well as Whitehaven, and it was in Cumbria that his son began to show his aptitude for cricket.

England captain Joe Root, speaking at a press conference, said: “It puts things in perspective. We’re here to play good, hard cricket but it’s important as a squad that we want Ben and his family to have all the support they can get.

“I want to stress the importance of respecting his privacy. All the players and squad want to show Ben our support. What’s most important is we support him and his family. It’s crucial that comes first.”

England will allow Stokes whatever freedom he needs ahead of the Test match and will rejig their team as necessary if he is unable to feature.

The selection picture was already cloudy, with uncertainty over Jofra Archer’s fitness following a week-long sickness bug. Sam Curran is the closest to a like-for-like deputy to Stokes, as an authentic all-rounder, but England may also be tempted to recall Jonny Bairstow as a specialist batsman given Stokes’ key role at number five.

And in a further selection worry, England confirmed that Chris Woakes has gone down with an illness and will not train on Christmas Eve.

“We’ve had a bit of bad news with Woakesy going down ill, he won’t be training (on Tuesday),” Root said. “We’ll see how that unfolds. It’s quite frustrating. He seems to have got to the doc quite quickly, so we’ll see how he pulls up at the back end of (Tuesday) and (Wednesday).

“We have to handle it. We’ll have to wait and see. We’ll make a very late call on our side.”

Additional reporting by PA