Ben Stokes: England all-rounder would 'swap' World Cup-winning year for father's health

Ben Stokes' father Ged travelled to South Africa from his home in New Zealand to watch his son play in the four-match Test series

Ben Stokes says he would trade everything he achieved in his World Cup-winning year to see his dad "happy and healthy".

Stokes' father Ged, 64, spent Christmas in intensive care in a South African hospital after becoming ill days after arriving in the country to watch his son play in the four-Test series.

"To see out the year with my dad in hospital has put things into perspective," Stokes, who spent Christmas Eve at his father's bedside, wrote in the Mirror.

"At the end of the most memorable of years I am finding it quite hard to sum up 2019 right now. There have been some unbelievable highs and some real lows."

Stokes, who was awarded an OBE in the New Year's Honours list and voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in December, added: "If someone could say, 'I'll take everything away from you that happened last summer, but your dad is happy, healthy and watching you play cricket', then I'd say, 'Yeah, swap it'."

The Durham all-rounder played a key part in England's World Cup victory and scored an incredible match-winning century in the Ashes Test at Headingley.

Stokes Sr has "got a way to go" according to his son, who is currently in Cape Town with England as they prepare for the second Test which starts on Friday aiming to bounce back from a heavy loss in the series opener in Centurion.

"Thankfully where he is now to where he was when he went in has been an unbelievable turnaround," Stokes said.

"If there is a positive to take it is that we were all together to get through it as a family.

"The idea was for the family to spend Christmas together because we hadn't done that for seven years and it may have been in a hospital room but we were all together."