Ben Stokes' latest Instagram story might 'give you wings'

Controversial England all-rounder Ben Stokes has posted a couple of Instagram stories, where he can be seen giving final touches to Red Bull sponsored bats. The underfire cricketer also posted a clip of him practicing at the Durham County Cricket Club. Stokes has been quite active on the photo-sharing website and his fans keep a watch on his activities, as they religiously wish to see him in the Ashes squad down-under.

The 26-year-old cricketer lost his sponsorship with sportswear brand New Balance last month. Stokes was arrested on 26th September on suspicion of causing actual bodily harm following an incident near a Bristol nightclub. New Balance, which is also the main sponsorer of the England cricket team, had received a signing from Stokes which was worth £200,000 per year.

Stokes also apologised to TV personality Katie Price and her son Harvey for a video that appeared to show him imitating a TV appearance made by the disabled young boy. New Balance had said it “does not condone behavior that does not match our brand culture and values”.

Waokes set to fill the big shoes

Veteran pacer James Anderson was earlier named the vice-captain of the England side in the absence of Stokes, while his replacement Chris Woakes has done considerably well in the warm-ups. “With Ben being away all of us have got to step up,” Woakes recently said. “Hopefully I can do that, hopefully I can score runs and take wickets. That’s my plan. I’ll be trying my best to do that.”

Apart from Stokes, Indian batsman KL Rahul, pacer Varun Aaron and Sri Lanka’s Lahiru Thirimane are the other three cricketers associated with Red Bull. Footballer Neymar da Silva Santos Jr is also one of their high-profile ambassadors. It will be interesting to see if Red Bull lives up to their advertising slogan ‘gives you wings’ in this scenario, as Stokes looks desperate to fly down to Australia for the most celebrated rivalry in world cricket.

Watch his Instagram story here: