To little fanfare, Ben Stokes has slipped out of the shorter formats. His last one-day international was at the 2023 World Cup, his last Twenty20 international helped England win its equivalent a year earlier. His most recent white-ball match of any description came during the Hundred in 2024, a tournament he has since shouldered arms to.

Red-ball cricket is the thing that gets the England captain’s juices flowing these days and had he not fractured his cheekbone in the nets back in February, the plan was to be available for Durham from the start of the season. Fair play, given the additional money he could earn by diversifying in his final years.

Belatedly returning against Worcestershire at New Road on Friday, Stokes needed only eight deliveries to make an impact. Not quite who-writes-your-scripts territory at one of Ian Botham’s old haunts but a tidy bit of work all the same, Stokes getting some extra bounce to tickle the edge of Dan Lategan’s backfoot drive.

It was the first of two wickets for Stokes in his first outing since the Ashes as Worcestershire scrapped hard to reach 209 for seven on a rain-affected opening day. The second came late when, with a rainbow over the cathedral in the distance, he bowled Adam Hose for 59 with a beauty that shaped to swing away before nipping back in.

Under the watchful eye of England’s lead physio, Ben Davies, Stokes sent down 14 overs across three spells and looked sharp with it; the quickest on show, certainly, and even more svelte than usual. Some players pile on the pounds when sidelined by injury – Stokes prefers to pound away on a treadmill.

Notable also was the fact that, in his first County Championship match for Durham in nearly two years, Stokes started out with the new ball.

This was in part due to Matthew Potts resting after a heavy workload in the opening rounds and Duanne Olivier not being ready after arriving to replace the injured Kemar Roach. But there is a world in which this is relevant to England as thoughts turn towards the three-Test series against New Zealand in June.

Marcus North is expected to be confirmed as the new selector in the coming days – Durham’s director of cricket was not seen at New Road – and one option could be to see whether Stokes is interested in a late-career switch to opening bowler.

There is clearly a vacancy here, given this will be England’s first home summer for 20 years without one of Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad or Chris Woakes to turn to. Hence the early season sounding out of the previously untrusted Ollie Robinson and similar encouragement for Sam Cook after that solitary Test cap last year.

Whether Stokes would be entirely suitable or even fancy it full time is another matter. To date he has opened the bowling in two of his 120 Test matches, both times in the subcontinent before the spinners began twirling away.

But the 34-year-old was England’s joint-leading wicket-taker in 2025 along with Josh Tongue, picking up 33 at 23 runs apiece. It felt like he had unlocked a new level while doing so, his pace up and more movement extracted than others.

At the same time, the returns with the bat have thinned out a touch. His century against India at Old Trafford last summer was his first for two years, while his tour of Australia ended with only two half-centuries and an average of 18.4. There is also the question of how he intends to approach his batting this summer.

It was here at New Road four years ago that Stokes offered the first glimpse of so-called Bazball by smoking 161 off 88 balls. But during the winter he seemed to turn his back on the whole thing, issuing something of a pointed message to his players by grinding out his runs in a bloody-minded fashion.

After time to reflect on this U-turn with Brendon McCullum – the head coach who felt he went too far the other way – it remains to be seen what orders follow. Either way, playing cricket in whites with a red ball is where Stokes wants to be.