London [UK], October 31 : England skipper Ben Stokes revealed that his Durham home was burgled while he was with the national side on a Test series tour to Pakistan and urged people to help him out with recovery of his valuable items and in catching the thieves.
Stokes's wife, Clare and his two children were in the house at the time of the burglary, which the England skipper said was carried out by "a number of masked men" and left an "impact on the emotional and mental state" of his family. '
Among the "irreplaceable" items stolen was Stokes' OBE medal, awarded to him in early 2020 following his fantastic performances in England's maiden 50-over World Cup triumph in 2019 and the Ashes series after that. He also lauded the police for supporting his family well while he was in Pakistan.
Stokes took to Instagram and wrote, "APPEAL On the evening of Thursday 17th October a number of masked people burgled my home in the Castle Eden area in the North East. They escaped with jewellery, other valuables and a good deal of personal items. Many of those items have real sentimental value for me and my family. They are irreplaceable."
"This is an appeal for any help in finding these people who carried out this act. 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."
"I am releasing photographs of some of the stolen items - which I hope may be easily identified - in the hope that we can find the people who are responsible for this. Although we have lost cherished possessions, to be clear, my sole motivation in sharing these photographs is not the recovery of material items. It is to catch the people who did this. Please come forward and contact Durham Constabulary on 101 quoting crime reference CRI00575927 if you think that you have any relevant information."
"Finally, I want to say thank you to the police service. Both now and whilst I was away in Pakistan, their support for my family has been outstanding. They continue to work incredibly hard in trying to find these people," he concluded.
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England lost the away series to Pakistan by 1-2. After a massive victory by an innings and 47 runs at Multan, the Three Lions went on to lose the next two games, largely thanks to superb bowling from spin duo of Noman Ali and Sajid Khan.
In two matches that Stokes played, he could score just 53 runs in four innings at an average of 13.25, with best score of 37.
England is at the sixth spot in the ICC World Test Championship 2023-25 with nine wins, nine losses and a draw in 19 matches.