Injuries seem to have taken a liking for Ben Stokes, as the all-rounder will be out of cricketing action for at least three months. This comes after he tore his left hamstring during the Hamilton Test against New Zealand last week.
Stokes left the field on day three while bowling his third over of the day. He sent down the second ball of the 56th over which Rachin Ravindra hammered for a four. After that, he pulled up feeling his left hamstring and then hobbled off the field.
This is, though, not his first brush with injuries. Stokes has been battling with injuries, more so in the last couple of years. He had knee surgery in late 2023, forcing him out for some time before he returned to full fitness steadily.
The all-rounder was looking good in the home summer earlier this year, bowling 49 overs against the West Indies in the three-match Test series. But he suffered a hamstring injury during the 2024 Hundred, ruling him out of the Sri Lanka series.
Stokes returned to action on the Pakistan tour, featuring in the second and third Tests. He was again looking in good shape during the New Zealand series, but the same hamstring injury has brought him down again.
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Before the third Test last week, Stokes seemed confident about his body, saying, “I have to work so much harder on the physical side of the job to allow me to go out and do my job but I got a good amount of overs in during the last two games and I am more confident about getting through a lot of spells in a day.
“That is where I got to before I pulled my hamstring. I bowled nice in the summer, had a setback but now feel out of that and not worrying about anything else happening again. As you get older you think about your body a bit more but I work harder because I have to,” he further added.
Now the England captain will be in recovery mode, aiming to return to action for the Zimbabwe Test scheduled in May 2025. Thankfully, England don’t have any Test fixtures in between, while the management didn’t consider him for the upcoming India tour and the 2025 Champions Trophy.
