London [UK], April 16 (ANI): England skipper Ben Stokes is eyeing a return to competitive cricket in May and spoke about his battle with the injury he sustained on his cheekbone, saying that he was lucky to get out of it and it being 'couple of inches one way or the other' could have killed him.

Having copped a blow during a training session in February, Stokes has conceded he was lucky the nature of his injury was not too serious. So far, Stokes has yet to feature in the County Championship for Durham in preparation for the home Test summer starting with the New Zealand series in June.

'Pretty nasty but, funnily, probably the best result of a bad situation, to be honest,' Stokes said in an interview with the ECB.

'I copped one straight in the face. Just a couple of inches one way or the other, I might not be here doing this interview, if I did not turn my head around.'

'All things considered, although I had pretty major facial surgery to sort it out - it was a bit of a mess under here (cheekbone) - I have got out quite lucky. So pretty thankful for that,' he continued.

Stokes has missed the beginning of the ongoing County Championship season, delayed owing to his ongoing recovery.

The premier all-rounder however, feels he will be back in action just in time to shape up for England's blockbuster home series, which will feature the ICC World Test Championship series against New Zealand and Pakistan.

'It obviously set everything back about a month, with getting back to where I wanted to be to play at the start of the season for Durham. I just had to sort of quickly go back to the drawing board and put a plan together to get me ready to play a couple of games for Durham before the Test summer starts,' he added.

England will next feature in a three-match Test series against New Zealand, beginning June 4 at Lord's.

Having suffered a 4-1 loss at the hands of Australia in their last Test series Down Under, England sit seventh in the ongoing WTC Standings. (ANI)