Tag: Ben Stokes

Harry Brook provided a much-anticipated update regarding the injury status of England Test captain Ben Stokes, stating it “doesn’t look good”.

Stokes suffered a hamstring injury during Sunday’s fixture of The Hundred between Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers.

His team Superchargers stormed to a resounding seven-wicket victory over the home side but the triumph was eclipsed by his gruelling injury, which resulted in him retiring out after managing to score just two runs.

Stokes, who bats as an opener for the Superchargers, sprinted for a quick single in the early phase of the run chase and suffered the injury after completing the run.

He was then carried off the field by the medical staff and looked in extreme discomfort.

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After his side’s triumph, Stokes was seen using crutches and the Superchargers affirmed that the star all-rounder may have suffered a hamstring issue, which puts his participation in England’s upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka in jeopardy.

“It doesn’t look great, unfortunately,” Ben Stokes’ England team-mate Harry Brook told Sky Sports.

“I think he’ll be getting a scan tomorrow and we’ll see how he is.”

Meanwhile, former England captain Michael Atherton, commentating on The Hundred 2024, said it appeared unlikely to him for Stokes to feature in the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka.

“The way that he gripped the back of his leg looked like hamstring to me, which may well be a significant period out,” Atherton said.

“But it might not be a structural problem so fingers crossed it’s that and that it’s not as bad as it initially looked and that he can play some part in the Test series.

“But it looks extremely unlikely that he’ll be able to play here in ten days’ time.”

READ: Kieron Pollard hits Rashid Khan for five consecutive sixes in The Hundred

England’s Test captain Ben Stokes backed right-arm speedster Mark Wood to break the 100mph barrier in Test cricket.

Stokes, while speaking ahead of England’s third and final home Test against West Indies, asserted that Wood has always something “left in the tank” but was not sure if the pacer is concerned about it.

“I don’t know if he’s actually too bothered about it,” said Stokes.

“He seems to be getting closer and closer to that (100mph mark), but I’m happy with what he’s doing now to be honest.

“Being able to sustain that pace is quite phenomenal.

“His average speed every time he plays a Test match is always above 90mph –- it’s all fine and well trying to bowl one spell above 90 but every spell he bowls for England he’s clocking over 90mph,” added Stokes as he reflected on the sheer physical effort of his county colleague.

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Australia’s Mitchell Starc currently holds the record of the fastest delivery ever recorded in Tests at 99.6mph against New Zealand in 2015.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s legend Shoaib Akhtar holds the all-format record when he bowled a 100.2mph thunderbolt against England in an ODI game.

Mark Wood’s Test career has been blighted by injuries but his captain Stokes is delighted with how the pacer is bowling right now.

“You have to hold your hands up and celebrate what we have there,” Stokes said. “He (Wood) has got the heart of a lion. He runs in spell after spell, ball after ball.

“When be bowls the whole game changes. When his name is read out the whole crowd is up, then when the speeds are on the big screen everyone gets going.

“Woody is always looking up at the screen as well to see what he’s clocking. He knows he’s in the team to not only bowl skilfully, but also fast.”

Last week, Wood achieved a unique feat with his searing pace as he bowled the fastest over ever recorded for England at home in Test cricket.

Mark Wood recorded the feat in the second Test of the three-match series between England and West Indies, currently underway at Trent Bridge.

READ: West Indies suffer major blow ahead of third England Test

England’s Test captain and star all-rounder Ben Stokes will feature in The Hundred 2024, following the conclusion of the ongoing home Test series against West Indies.

Ben Stokes, the England Men’s Test captain, missed last year’s competition but will be available for four games for Andrew Flintoff’s Northern Superchargers team this season.

The batters in England Men’s Test squad – Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook and Jamie Smith – will all be available for their teams in The Hundred immediately after the end of the third Test match at Edgbaston, scheduled to start on Friday 26 July.

The availability of England Men’s bowlers will be dependent on workload and international selection, but Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts and Dillon Pennington are all likely to feature in The Hundred from the early rounds. Chris Woakes is expected to be available from Tuesday 6 August.

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In addition, it is expected that England Men’s players picked in the squad for the first Test match against Sri Lanka at Emirates Old Trafford on Wednesday 21 August will be available for The Hundred Eliminator (Saturday 17 August) and The Hundred Final (Sunday 18 August), depending on player role and workload management.

England Women’s players are available for The Hundred with their summer international commitments finished.

A number of replacement players have also been confirmed, covering England Men’s international selection in the early rounds and injury. India’s Deepti Sharma will now be a part of The Hundred, as will Australia’s Kim Garth, as well as New Zealand duo Tim Southee and Mitchell Santner.

England Men’s Player Availability and Player Replacements

Birmingham Phoenix

Tim Southee (New Zealand) will replace Naseem Shah for the duration of the competition

Louis Kimber (Leicestershire CCC) will replace Will Smeed for the duration of the competition

Chris Woakes (available from Tuesday 6 August)

Ben Duckett (available after England Men’s third Test match v West Indies)

Jamie Smith (available after England Men’s third Test match v West Indies)

London Spirit

Deepti Sharma (India) will replace Grace Harris for the duration of the competition

Erin Burns (Australia) will replace Deepti Sharma while she is on international duty

Zak Crawley (available after England Men’s third Rothesay Test match v West Indies)

Ollie Pope (available after England Men’s third Rothesay Test match v West Indies)

Jimmy Neesham (New Zealand) will replace Zak Crawley while he is on international duty

Matthew Taylor (Gloucestershire CCC) will replace Ollie Pope while he is on international duty

Manchester Originals

Bethan Ellis (Central Sparks) will replace Mahika Gaur for the duration of the competition

Kim Garth (Australia) will replace Sophie Molineux for the duration of the competition

Northern Superchargers

Mitchell Santner (New Zealand) will replace Daniel Sams for the duration of the competition

Harry Brook (available after England Men’s third Rothesay Test match v West Indies)

Ben Stokes (available for four games after England Men’s third Test match v West Indies)

Dillon Pennington (first appearance tbc depending on workload management)

Matthew Potts (first appearance tbc depending on workload management)

Oval Invincibles

Harrison Ward (Sussex CCC) will replace Gus Atkinson while he is on international duty

Mohammad Amir (Pakistan) will replace Spencer Johnson for Oval Invincibles’ first game on 23 July

Gus Atkinson (first appearance tbc depending on workload management)

Tash Farrant has been withdrawn from the competition

Trent Rockets

Joe Root (available after England Men’s third Rothesay Test match v West Indies)

Riley Meredith (Australia) will replace Joe Root while he is on international duty

Welsh Fire

Beth Langston (Northern Diamonds) will replace Claire Nicholas for the duration of the competition

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England captain Ben Stokes believes “phenomenal” Chris Woakes can lead his team’s bowling attack as they start life without James Anderson as the new-ball spearhead.

Anderson retired from international duty following an innings and 114-run rout of the West Indies in the first Test at Lord’s last week.

The 41-year-old took 704 Test wickets — the most by any fast bowler in the format’s history — during an England-record 188 matches.

With Stuart Broad having retired after last year’s Ashes series against Australia, it means England are now without the pair’s combined 1,308 Test wickets as they head into the second Test at Trent Bridge on Thursday.

The match will also be the first time since 2012 that England have played a home Test without either Anderson or Broad.

But England still have seam-bowling experience in Chris Woakes, who will be playing his 50th Test this week.

The 35-year-old Warwickshire all-rounder averages an impressive 22.04 per wicket in red-ball internationals on home soil.

“I see it as an opportunity for someone like Woakesy to take on more of a leadership role in the bowling unit,” Stokes told a pre-match press conference on Wednesday.

“We’ve been so used to Jimmy and Broady doing that, so it’s a great opportunity for him. He’s a very experienced player and a phenomenal performer, particularly in England.

“It’s great for him to be able to lead the attack and 50 caps is a huge honour.”

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Stokes will also be able to call on express pace in both rising star Gus Atkinson and experienced Mark Wood. Atkinson took 12 wickets on his debut in Anderson’s farewell Test and hit speeds of 90mph (145kph).

While Wood has proved himself capable of even faster bowling and he is now set to be recalled as a replacement for Anderson in the only change to the England team from the first Test.

With England rebuilding ahead of the 2025/26 Ashes in Australia, Stokes is looking forward to having Atkinson and Wood at his disposal for the foreseeable future.

“It’s very exciting, the prospect of seeing Gus Atkinson bowl at one end and Mark Wood at the other,” said Stokes.

“Look at the way Gus bowled last week, it’s not only the 12 wickets, it’s finding another bowler who can bowl between 87-90mph.

“Woody is someone who had an unbelievable summer last year in the Ashes,” added Stokes, with his Durham team-mate taking 14 wickets in three matches as England fought back to draw the five-Test series 2-2.

“He was a massive player for us with a huge impact and everyone knows why — because of his pace.”

England could be forced into a late change if the partner of opening batsman Ben Duckett gives birth before Thursday’s toss, with Dan Lawrence on standby.

“There’s a plan in place for Ben and his partner,” said Stokes. “We’ll just have to make a decision if it was to happen before the game started.”

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England Test captain Ben Stokes etched his name in an elusive list of all-rounders, featuring Jacques Kallis and Sir Garfield Sobbers during the ongoing first home Test against West Indies on Thursday.

Stokes became only the third player in the history of the format to claim 200 wickets, coupled with 6,000 runs.

The right-arm pacer, who made his long-awaited return to bowling at full throttle this summer, dismissed Kirk McKenzie (0) on his third delivery of the second innings to amass the 200-wicket mark.

Top-order West Indies batter McKenzie was trapped leg-before wicket (LBW) off Stokes and despite referring the decision upstairs via the Decision Review System (DRS), third umpire Adrian Holdstock upheld the decision of on-field umpire Rod Tucker.

Stokes, upon his return, has been sensational with the ball as he backed his landmark scalp with two maidens and consequently got rewarded with another wicket to his name when he got Mikyle Louis caught behind for 14.

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All in all, Ben Stokes has 6,316 runs in Test cricket and 201 wickets and despite joining Jacques Kallis and Sir Garfield Sobers in the elusive all-rounders list, he is far behind the two greats of the game.

Sobers has 8,032 runs along with 235 wickets, while Kallis boasts an even more superior record with 13,289 runs and 292 wickets.

Coming back to the ongoing first Test, West Indies are in heaps of trouble against England as they lost half of their side with 55 runs in the second innings.

The touring side need to score 195 more runs to avoid an innings defeat against England.

Earlier today, England finished their first innings at 371 with Zak Crawley leading the charge with a 79, followed by debutant Jamie Smith, who scored 70.

Besides them, Ollie Pope and Joe Root also made notable contributions with fifty each.

READ: King Charles III congratulates England on reaching Euro 2024 final

England allrounder Ben Stokes has confirmed today that he does not wish to be considered for selection ahead of this summer’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which will take place in June in the West Indies and the United States of America (USA).

The England Test captain’s primary focus is to get fully fit to bowl not only for the summer of Test cricket, which includes two three-match Test series against West Indies and Sri Lanka respectively but for all cricket in the future.

“I’m working hard and focusing on building my bowling fitness back up to fulfil a full role as an all-rounder in all formats of cricket,” Stokes said commenting on his decision.

“Opting out of the IPL and the World Cup will hopefully be a sacrifice that allows me to be the all-rounder I want to be for the foreseeable future.

“The recent Test tour of India highlighted how far behind I was from a bowling point of view after my knee surgery and nine months without bowling.

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“I’m looking forward to playing for Durham in the County Championship before the start of our Test summer.

“I wish Jos (Buttler), Motty (Matthew Mott) and all the team the best of luck in defending our title.”

England’s ICC T20 World Cup 2024 defence will start on 4 June against Scotland at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

Notably, Ben Stokes hit the winning run in the final of the ICC World Cup 2022 against Pakistan to help England lift their second T20 World Cup title.

They will then play group matches against Australia, Oman, and Namibia in Barbados and Antigua before qualification for the Super 8s and knockout stages.

READ: Dinesh Chandimal flies back home midway through the Chattogram Test

England skipper Ben Stokes said Wednesday that teenage spinner Rehan Ahmed had taken his visa scare in stride ahead of his scheduled appearance in this week’s third Test against India.

The tourists made one change for the match starting in Rajkot on Thursday, with Mark Wood coming in as the second seamer alongside James Anderson.

Spinner Shoaib Bashir made way for Wood after England decided to change their combination of three spinners and one seamer, which they have used so far in the five-match series. The series is currently tied 1-1.

The 19-year-old Rehan Ahmed, a leg-spinner, had an issue on returning to India after the team’s 10-day break in Abu Dhabi.

Ahmed had a single-entry visa that expired once he left for a mid-series break to the United Arab Emirates, and was initially stopped at the airport before being granted a temporary entry permit while authorities resolved the issue.

“It was always one of those situations for an individual where having to wait for that, it’s always an anxious period, but thankfully we’ve got it through this morning,” Ben Stokes said on the eve of his landmark 100th Test.

“The great thing about youth is they just take everything in their stride and I thought he handled a situation — could have affected quite a lot of people in a different way — very, very well for such a young kid.”

Ahmed was the latest cricketer with Pakistani ancestry to face entry troubles in India.

Teammate Shoaib Bashir had to miss the opening Test due to his visa issues, but for Ahmed the case has been reported as a paperwork mistake on the English side.

“When you have a problem like that, rather than try to blame someone, you just have to try to find a solution and get it sorted,” said Stokes.

“We’ve had two of those situations so far on this trip,” he added.

“When it came up at the airport we were straight on to doing what we needed to do to get Rehan in rather than wasting time trying to find out whose fault it was.”

Ahmed, England’s youngest cricketer in all three formats, has taken eight wickets in the series at an average of 36.37.

Wood, 34, makes his return after going wicketless in the opener, which the tourists won on a turning track.

The pitch in Rajkot looks hard with a tinge of green but Stokes remains wary of any predictions on the wicket after England’s last Test at the venue in 2016 ended in a five-day draw.

“Taking a bit of knowledge from the last Test match we played here, albeit a long time ago, it was a pretty true, flat wicket,” said Stokes.

“It looks a bit platey but I think it’s a good wicket. Bringing in an extra seamer this week is the option we’ve gone with because we think it’s going to give us the best chance of winning.”

The Rajkot game will see Stokes play his 100th Test, the 16th England cricketer to achieve the feat, but the star all-rounder played down the landmark.

“Milestones are what they are,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed playing against India because of the contest, the theatre it brings.”

England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Ben Foakes, Rehan Ahmed, Tom Hartley, Mark Wood, James Anderson.

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England batter Joe Root has pulled out of next year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), joining his red-ball skipper Ben Stokes in sitting out the glitzy Twenty20 tournament.

Root, who had made his IPL debut for Rajasthan Royals earlier this year, opted out a day before the deadline for franchises to announce their releases and retentions ahead of the auction on December 19.

“Joe Root has opted out of IPL 2024. The dressing room will miss you, Rooty,” Royals said late Saturday in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Root became the second player from England to opt out of the IPL after Stokes announced his withdrawal last week in order to manage his workload and fitness.

Royals said in a statement on their website that they “respect” Root’s decision.

“Even in a short span of time, Joe was able to create such a positive impact on the franchise and the players around him,” said Kumar Sangakkara, Royals’ director of cricket.

“His energy around the group and the experience he brought to the Royals will be missed. We respect his decision totally and wish him success in everything he does.”

Root was signed up by the Royals for his base price of $121,000 in the IPL auction this year.

He played three games but batted in just one, scoring 10 against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Jaipur.

The IPL remains the most popular and lucrative Twenty20 league in the world.

But it is a lengthy and demanding tournament, posing a risk of injury, fatigue and burnout for players who face an increasingly packed international schedule.

READ: Rashid Latif urges Imad Wasim to reconsider his retirement decision

England’s Test captain and star all-rounder Ben Stokes has decided to withdraw from the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 to manage his workload and fitness.

In a statement, released by Stokes’ IPL franchise Chennai Super League, the former champions said that they were “supportive of Ben in his decision”.

“England Test captain, all-rounder Ben Stokes has made himself unavailable for IPL 2024 to manage his workload and fitness,” stated Super Kings.

“Stokes, 32, became a part of the Super Kings ahead of the successful IPL 2023.

“He recently participated in the ODI World Cup 2023, which he came out of retirement for.

“The Chennai Super Kings management is supportive of Ben in his decision to manage his workload with England playing a 5-Test series in India before the IPL and then the T20 World Cup in June 2024.”

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However, Super Kings did not confirm whether they will release Ben Stokes.

Notably, the deadline to announce the retentions and releases for the 2024 edition of the IPL is November 26.

Meanwhile, if the franchise does not release the English all-rounder, there is a possibility that they will retain him and keep him ahead of the mega auction for IPL 2025.

Stokes has been nursing a chronic knee issue and has announced that he will undergo surgery on his left knee after the World Cup to ensure that he will attain full fitness before the India tour next year in January where England are scheduled to play a five-match series.

Ben Stokes, who was the most expensive purchase for the Super Kings at INR 16.25 crore, featured in only two fixtures for the eventual champions. He scored 15 runs and bowled just one over that went for 18 runs.

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England’s Ben Stokes on Friday conceded that “nothing’s worked” in a disastrous ICC World Cup 2023 campaign.

The defending champions have lost five of their six matches during the ongoing ICC World Cup 2023 to lie bottom of the 10-team table and another defeat on Saturday in Ahmedabad against arch-rivals Australia will end even their slimmest hopes of squeezing into the semi-finals.

“I think the problem is that we’ve been crap. To be honest with you, we’ve been crap,” Stokes said.

“Everything we’ve tried throughout this World Cup, through trying to put pressure back onto the opposition in a way in which we know or trying to soak up the pressure in a different way, which we know we’ve done before and been successful with, it’s just not worked.”

Ben Stokes added: “Every opportunity that we’ve had in front of us where we feel like we can take control of the game, the opposition’s managed to get it back towards them. And we’ve just not been able to put a full game together.”

Watch ICC World Cup 2023 Live on ARY ZAP

England have brushed aside any talk of an unlikely mathematical equation of making the final four of the ICC World Cup 2023 if they win their remaining three matches.

But a clash with five-time champions Australia does excite Stokes and his teammates, three months after an acrimonious Ashes series ended 2-2.

“England-Australia in any sport whenever the two nations play against each it’s always a big occasion,” said Stokes.

After facing Australia, the defending champions still have to play the Netherlands in Pune on November 8 and Pakistan at Kolkata on November 11.

“We’ve had a disastrous World Cup and there’s no point sugarcoating that because it’s the truth. But we know these last three games, for us, we’ve got a lot to play for,” said Ben Stokes.

“I think the biggest thing that we’ve got to play for is obviously the pride of what it is to put the three lions on your chest, walking out onto the field every time is a very special occasion and something that we value very highly.”

READ: Australia prepare to strike final blow on old enemy England