The story behind Stokes’ tattoo

Part of Ben Stokes’ extensive collection of ink is a tattoo connecting to his Ma¯ori heritage, but England’s superstar test captain couldn’t get his first piece of body art without parental permission, his mum has revealed.

In the week when the England side touched down in New Zealand for its two-test tour, Stokes’ mum, Deb, joined Stuff’s The Podium sports podcast.

She talked of her admiration for her son’s honesty about his mental health struggles, coach Brendon McCullum’s influence on him as a leader, and his valued connection to New Zealand.

Part of that connection to the country of his birth is a ta¯ moko on his left arm, with Christchurch-based Deb revealing the story behind that particular tattoo.

‘‘I can recall, when we were living in Cambria [in the north of England], Ben had said, ‘I want to get a tattoo mum’,’’ says Deb, who is of Nga¯puhi descent.

‘‘That was at the time when you needed parental permission, which was a bit of a younger age than what it was in New Zealand. So we [she and his father, Ged,] sat him down. And I said, so what do you want’?’’

The budding cricket star responded that he didn’t know.

‘‘I said ‘dad and I are not going to give you permission to do this’, you need to design something that means something to you, that reflects your heritage, and how you are now living in the UK.’’

‘‘He did that, so we gave him permission.’’ With tattoos now covering the majority of his body, Deb says each of them means something to him. ‘‘It’s not like he’s had a star tattooed on his backside.’’