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England captain Ben Stokes is battling a groin injury at Lord’s and the team is anxious about his fitness to take the sector again within the series.
Ben Stokes is coping with a groin injury at Lord’s. (AP Photo)
England are sweating over captain Ben Stokes’ fitness ahead of a giant second day within the Lord’s Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. The all-rounder gave the impression to be battling a groin injury while batting on the primary day of the Test (Friday, July 10) and needed to be treated by the physio in the center.
The pain began after he lunged forward to face a delivery against India’s Nitish Kumar Reddy. He resumed batting soon after but looked in visible discomfort, hobbling for runs and stretching his legs in between balls. His partner, Joe Root, was on 98 in the ultimate over of the day — he took a single but aborted a second run to not push Stokes. The latter went to Stumps at 39 (102) with England at 251/4 in the primary innings of the test.
Within the press conference afterwards, Ollie Pope hoped to see ‘something magical’ from Stokes, expressing worry about not only this Test however the two after it on the Oval and Old Trafford.
“Fingers crossed he can do something magical and are available back strong,” Pope said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “I’ve not seen him since, so fingers crossed there’s nothing too serious. But clearly we’ve got a giant Test over the following 4 days and we’ve got a giant two coming up as well, so it will be important to try to manage him.”
Pope also said that as a senior player, he’ll try to be sure that that Stokes doesn’t worsen the injury in his efforts for the team.
“We’ll see how he pulls up tomorrow, but for me, that’s partially one in every of my roles, to be sure that that he doesn’t push himself to a ridiculous place with whatever he’s coping with in the intervening time,” Pope said. “I’m sure the physios, the medics will work with him to put out a plan after which I’ll help push him in the proper direction,” he added.
Stokes’ form with the bat has been an enormous concern for England. Nonetheless, because the lynchpin of the BazBall ideology, he’s crucial to their on-field attitude and success. If he were to miss any time within the second innings or the next Tests, vice-captain Harry Brook could take over.
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A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses, features, live scores, results, stats and the whole lot that’s cricket from all around the globe. Follow @cricketnext
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