THE OVAL — Perhaps the most telling line from a dramatic morning when the bombshell news of Ben Stokes’ latest injury broke was the admission from England’s captain that it was still a close-run thing whether or not he would play the final Test against India.
The i Paper understands England had all but ruled the 34-year-old out from the moment the results of his scan on Monday showed a grade three tear in a shoulder muscle that is expected to sideline him for six to 10 weeks.
But Stokes was only persuaded to sit out this match after discussions on Tuesday morning at The Oval with coach Brendon McCullum and team medics Ben Davies and Anita Biswas.
The message was clear – he risked being ruled out of this winter’s Ashes series in Australia if he took the field against India.
England’s Ben Stokes with head coach Brendon McCullum at The Oval (Photo: Reuters)With his team 2-1 ahead in the series going into this fifth Test, it was a clearly emotional decision for Stokes, who said: “I could have played this week and nothing happened. I came down here this morning to give myself every chance of seeing if I could just play as a batter.
“I think you need that time chatting with the medical team, Baz, and then almost just 20 minutes to myself out there in the morning, just to really be clear around the decision we made. I’ll always try to push myself as much as I possibly can so it’s not for me to say if it’s the right decision but I understand where it’s at.”
That last line was particularly revealing. It is clear that the management and medical team have needed to be stronger with Stokes this summer.
Yet as Joe Root revealed after the all-rounder’s marathon, and ultimately match-winning, spells on the final day of the third Test at Lord’s, Stokes is almost impossible to rein in.
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“You can try but it doesn’t make any difference,” Root said.
This isn’t a surprise. After his shoulder injury became evident on the final day of the drawn fourth Test in Manchester, a match where England spent 257 overs in the field, Stokes said: “Pain is just an emotion.”
He bowled eight overs on the final morning in Manchester in a bid to try and win the game for his team. Clearly struggling with this shoulder by then, he even came back for a three-over spell in the afternoon.
Why did nobody within the management or medical team intervene and tell him to stop?
At the end of that fourth Test, Stokes revealed he had been struggling with his shoulder for a while. “It is something that has been stirring away, a pretty big workload in the series,” he said.
It is understood Stokes felt pain in his right shoulder as early as last month’s first Test against India at Headingley. He has been managing it all summer. It certainly explains his admission about going to “dark places” during his final-day heroics at Lord’s. The fact he’s bowled 140 overs in the series also says much about his character and pain threshold.
Having successfully overcome serious knee and hamstring injuries over the past two years, Stokes’ return as a world-class all-rounder this summer has been a gamechanger for England in a tight, hard-fought and often ill-tempered series against India.
Ben Stokes was putting his body through the wringer (Photo: Reuters)He has been the best bowler across both teams, taking 17 wickets, and his absence this week is a huge blow for an England team looking to nail a statement series win ahead of this winter’s Ashes.
England desperately need him to perform the same role in Australia, yet his recovery from this latest injury makes that much harder given he will have little cricket before the first Test at Perth starts on 21 November.
It is understood Stokes hopes to return to bowling in the nets in mid-September. England depart for Australia on 9 November.
With just one three-day warm-up match against England Lions scheduled before the Ashes start, much of Stokes’ work will have to take place in the nets.
How he shapes up for the Ashes on the back of such little cricket will be key. It may take him a Test or two to get back to where he was as a bowler this summer. It’s time England can ill afford given the Ashes series could be running away from them by then.
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This latest issue is another reminder that the punishment Stokes puts his body through always means he is at risk of injury.
England are in a difficult position. They know they have close to zero chance of winning in Australia without Stokes. But they also need him at his best when he returns, and that means pushing his body to the very limit of its potential.
He is a player who thrives on the battle. And there are no half measures when he is out on the field.
As McCullum admitted after Stokes pulled up with a hamstring tear in New Zealand last December: “He pushes boundaries constantly of where he thinks he can take his body. That’s why he has been able to achieve special things.”
England don’t ever want to take that away from their talismanic captain. But they will need to be tougher with him in Australia and step in to save Stokes from himself when required.
England’s Ashes hopes may depend on it.
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