Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the rest of the Test summer after tearing his left hamstring while playing in The Hundred.
It means the England Test captain will miss the upcoming three-match series against Sri Lanka which gets under way at Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester on Wednesday August 21 – live on Sky Sports.
Stokes had to be helped from the field after pulling up while running between the wickets during Northern Superchargers’ win over Manchester Originals on Sunday, before a scan on Tuesday revealed the full extent of the injury.
The all-rounder, who was later seen on crutches, is aiming to return for England’s winter Test tour of Pakistan, scheduled to start in early October. The tour includes three Test matches in Multan, Karachi and Rawalpindi.
England vice-captain Ollie Pope is now set to skipper his country for the first time, while the ECB have confirmed that no replacement for Stokes will be called up and added to the now 13-player squad picked to face Sri Lanka.
After the opening Test, the series then heads to Lord’s (August 29-September 2) before concluding across London at The Kia Oval (September 6-10).
Stokes had only recently returned to full bowling duties after surgery on a chronic left knee issue late last year, getting through 49 overs and taking five wickets in July’s 3-0 sweep of West Indies.
England will also be without opener Zak Crawley for the Sri Lanka series after he fractured the little finger on his right hand fielding at slip in the final Test against West Indies at Edgbaston.
Dan Lawrence is expected to open the batting alongside Ben Duckett, while Essex’s Jordan Cox has been called up to the Test squad for the first time after scoring 763 runs, including three centuries, at an average of 69.36 in the County Championship this season.
Cox also struck an unbeaten 61 from 30 balls for Oval Invincibles in The Hundred on Sunday, against London Spirit, three days after hitting 46 not out from 29 balls against Southern Brave.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Following Stokes’ injury, the ECB withdrew fellow all-rounder Chris Woakes from Birmingham Phoenix’s final two games of The Hundred group stage to rest the 35-year-old ahead of the Sri Lanka series.
Athers: No other cricketers like Stokes | ‘Desperate news’
Sky Sports Michael Atherton, a former England captain:
“It’s no surprise. Ben Stokes is a cricketer with a pretty high pain threshold, so to see him having to be helped off the field and stretchered up to the dressing room, you felt that was his season done.
“Desperate news for him and bad news for the England team, because if there’s one cricketer you don’t want that to happen to, it’s him.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
“He’s the captain, he’s the leader; he’s the man who has really redefined what this England team is all about in the last two years or so.
“And this season, has got himself back to being the genuine all-round cricketer that we know he can be, because he got himself fit, he got over that knee operation.
“There are no other cricketers like him. I mean, there are all-rounders, but none of his calibre.
“They’ve confirmed that there will be no additions to the squad, which is an interesting talking point, because they could have brought somebody like Sam Curran or Craig Overton in.
“In the end, they’ve said, ‘we’ll stick with what we’ve got’. So their option is to play the extra batter in Jordan Cox, or bring in an extra seamer like Olly Stone and go with a slightly longer tail.”
Watch England’s first Test against Sri Lanka, from Emirates Old Trafford in Manchester, live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 10am on Wednesday August 21 (11am first ball)
Sky Sports+ has officially launched and will be integrated into Sky TV, streaming service NOW and the Sky Sports app, giving Sky Sports customers access to over 50 per cent more live sport this year at no extra cost. Find out more here.
Source : Sky Sports
