It seems almost certain that England all-rounder Ben Stokes will not play in the rest part of the fourth Test of the ongoing Ashes series due to sustaining an injury to his left side, and doubts have been raised about his participation in the 5th and final match of the series in Hobart next week.
Stokes suffered an injury on the left side during the second day of the match at the SCG. He left the field after bowling the fifth delivery in the fourth over yesterday due to that injury. Mark Wood then completed the over with the last ball of the over.
The England management then sent Stokes for a scan, and after his assessment, a decision was made that he would go down to bat at number 5 if he was deemed fit to return to the field. He spent the rest of the day fielding on the slip cordon. In his absence, England’s pace bowling was handled by James Anderson, Mark Wood, and Stuart Broad where Stuart Broad was a great performer with 5 wickets for 101 runs.
Broad said at the end that Stokes is one of the toughest players he has ever met. It is very painful not to bowl in such a match due to the injury of a player like him. But Stokes was icing by the time. However, he does not have any clear information about Stokes’ injury.
He added that Stokes would be rested for 12-24 hours which will help the body a lot to heal. He mentioned that the teammates and England supporters also hope that Stokes will not be in a bad position to stop bowling on this tour.
Ben Stokes returned to the Ashes after a long break in the English season this time due to a finger injury. He has struggled to make an impact in the series with 101 runs at an average of 16.83 and scalping 4 wickets at an average of 71.50 in the first three Tests.
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