Ben Stokes is set to make his first appearance in the Hundred for three years this summer. ESPNcricinfo understands that he has been made available by the ECB to play the second half of the group stage for Northern Superchargers, where he will be coached by Andrew Flintoff.
Stokes made two appearances for the Superchargers in the inaugural season of the Hundred in 2021 but has not played since taking over as England's Test captain, despite being named in their squads. He has instead opted to rest between Test series, having struggled with a chronic knee injury which prompted surgery after the 50-over World Cup last year.
He suffered a severe panic attack the morning after his most recent appearance in the competition, which came at Trent Bridge in July 2021, when he collapsed on the floor of his hotel bathroom. It was depicted in Phoenix from the Ashes, Stokes' documentary with Sam Mendes, and prompted him to take a prolonged break from the game later that year.
But ESPNcricinfo can reveal that he has been made available for four group-stage games this season -- and the knockout stages, should the Superchargers qualify -- starting with an away fixture against Birmingham Phoenix on August 6. It means one of England's great allrounders will play under another, with Flintoff due to begin his first role as a head coach next week.
The Hundred starts on Tuesday (July 23) but men's teams will be light on star names in its first week due to a clash with the third Test against West Indies. It also overlaps with the latter stages of Major League Cricket, where many of the Hundred's leading overseas players have spent the last two weeks.
England's batters will be released to play straight after the third Test at Edgbaston, while the allrounders and bowlers in the squad will be made available from August 6 onwards, for the second half of the group stages. Shoaib Bashir and Mark Wood do not have Hundred contracts, while the availability of Dillon Pennington and Matthew Potts will depend on their potential involvement in Birmingham.
The ECB are due to confirm a number of injury replacements on Thursday, with Will Smeed (Phoenix) and Tash Farrant (Oval Invincibles) both set to miss the competition with hamstring injuries. Riley Meredith (Trent Rockets) and James Neesham (London Spirit) have signed short-term deals as cover for Joe Root and Zak Crawley respectively.
Elsewhere, Tim Southee has replaced Naseem Shah at Phoenix after he was denied a No-Objection Certificate by the PCB, while New Zealand allrounder Mitchell Santner will deputise for Daniel Sams at Superchargers who has been ruled out due to a knee injury.