Ben Stokes suffered an injury on the fourth day of the first Test against New Zealand after aborting a spell with the ball midway through his fifth over.
England’s Test captain opened the bowling with himself on Sunday in Christchurch, with his team trailing by four runs but needing just four wickets in the second innings. Despite looking uninhibited during his first four overs from the Botanical Gardens End, he failed to complete the fifth, pulling away after three deliveries. Overall, his 19.3 overs in the match were the most he bowled in a Test since December 2022, when he scored 27 overs against Pakistan in Rawalpindi.
It seemed like a precautionary measure and it is understood that it was due to stiffness in the lower back. Stokes decided not to risk causing further damage, with Gus Atkinson brought in to complete the over, Stokes remained on the field until lunch. New Zealand were bowled out for 254, with Brydon Carse taking 6 for 42 for 10 wickets in the match, leaving England a modest chase of 104 for victory at Hagley Oval.
It is understood the injury is unlikely to affect his availability for the second Test, which begins in Wellington on Friday.
Last November, Stokes underwent surgery on his left knee to fix a long-term problem that had prevented him from bowling at full speed for the previous two years. He returned to bowling ahead of schedule in March, against India in Dharamshala, dismissing Rohit Sharma with his first delivery.
He increased his workload with Durham in the County Championship after opting not to be selected for the T20 World Cup. The decision allowed him to operate as an all-rounder in the West Indies series earlier in the summer, with 49 overs and five dismissals taking him past 200 wickets in his Test career.
However, he ruptured his left hamstring while playing in the Hundred, forcing him to miss the three-match series with Sri Lanka and subsequently the first Test in Pakistan. He didn’t look like himself, let his frustrations get the best of him and performed poorly as a player and captain.
He later apologized to the team in Queenstown for leaving them “treading on eggshells” due to his state of mind, the result of overexerting himself physically and mentally over a prolonged period in an attempt to regain form.
Speaking before the first Test against New Zealand, Stokes said he was now “good as gold” and “completely over” his hamstring injury: “The amount of physical work I did to my body during that period of nine or ten weeks definitely “It took its toll, probably on my entire body… I’m completely over the injury and I’m ready to start again.”
But he also confirmed that he had skipped the IPL mega auction to “take care” of his body and had made the decision to “prolong my career as long as possible”.
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