Problems don’t seem to be ending for England’s Test captain, Ben Stokes. Mind you, these are absolutely not related to how his team is playing. They just won the Christchurch Test, and though the 2-1 defeat in Pakistan was just a few weeks ago, the fast-bowling all-rounder has bigger problems than to keep dwelling in the past. During the opening Test versus New Zealand in Christchurch, Stokes bowled a total of 19.3 overs, his highest number of overs since 2022. His twentieth over was when he finally had to pull out of his unusually long bowling stint.
While it did raise concerns about his fitness, the English captain said abandoning the over midway was just a precautionary measure. He bowled only three over on the last day of the game before leaving the fourth one incomplete. Apparently, Stokes hurt his lower back while fielding earlier, stiffening his back muscles. This forced him to stop bowling, lest the stiffness get worse. In the post-match conference, when asked whether his decision to stop bowling was due to a serious underlying reason, Ben Stokes said that it was more for managing his workload and body than anything else.
“I’ve not spent that much time out in the middle for a long time,” Stokes said. “It’s been a pretty heavy week this week: a lot of time in the field, bowled 20 overs, and then spent some time out in the middle.”
“I hurt my back diving for a ball as well. It’s more management than anything else: with where we were in the game, it didn’t feel necessary to eke out any more balls than I needed to. I think the body is going to be good for this outing, and I’m raring to go for Wellington.”
Earlier, the English captain did not register himself for the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), despite being one of the most expensive players in the history of the cash-rich league. As per his own admission, he opted out of the mega-auction to ‘look after his body’ in order to play for England as long as he could.
“There’s no hiding behind the fact that I’m at the back end of my career. I obviously want to play as long as I possibly can. Looking after my body and looking after myself as much as I can is key to that.” Stokes said when asked about not registering for the IPL.
Last year in November, Stokes also underwent a knee surgery which saw him miss out almost 12 months of cricket to rehab. Even after that, he only got to play a handful of games, before he tore his hamstring to miss more games. He is currently centrally contracted with England until 2026, which means that he has no plans of succumbing to the usual flare of injuries. He might not contribute much with the ball, as his recent outings show, but England can, undoubtedly, not afford to lose a captain like him, especially at this time when they do not have a better replacement.
England, having bested the last game by eight wickets in Christchurch, will meet New Zealand in Wellington for the second of the three-Test match series.
