T o 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.…