Ben Stokes, currently with the Rajasthan Royals at IPL 2020, has opened up on life in quarantine, while claiming that it’s something that he wouldn’t wish even on his “worst enemy” with a subtle reference to Marlon Samuels, the former West Indies batsman, although jokingly.

Stokes had withdrawn from the England-Pakistan Test series after the first match to be with family in New Zealand for personal reasons. He was required to undergo a 14-day quarantine upon arrival in New Zealand, a period he found taxing.

“You get off the plane, get your bag, walk out and get told what hotel to go to,” he said on the Test Match Special podcast. “There’s no choice, it’s pot luck whether you get a good hotel or not. The government have chosen certain hotels to be the quarantine hotels.”

Further expanding on his quarantine in New Zealand, Stokes said that it was something that he wouldn’t wish on his worst enemy, while jokingly making a reference to his relationship with Marlon Samuels.

“I posted a few Instagram stories and some of the England boys were messaging me asking what it’s like and I was saying it wasn’t the most enjoyable thing you ever have to do, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy,” he said.

“I text my brother saying the same thing, and my brother asked: ‘You wouldn’t even do that to Marlon Samuels?’ I said ‘no, it’s that bad’ – that’s how tough it was.”

Stokes and Samuels go way back. In 2015, Samuels gave the England allrounder a salute send-off. Stokes then wrote “I do not like him one bit” while referring to Samuels in his autobiography Firestarter. The two had a spat during the final of 2016 World T20 in Kolkata as well, which West Indies won.

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