Manchester, July 28: England captain Ben Stokes has hinted at his participation in the fifth and final Test against India at Oval despite carrying an injury, saying “pain is just an emotion” but acknowledged the need to rejig their tired bowling attack.
The fourth Test ended in a stalemate after centuries from skipper Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar saw India dominate the final day’s play at Old Trafford where drama unfolded in the last hour when Stokes and Co. wanted to call off the match, only to be refused by the visitors who were well within their rights to continue batting.
Stokes, who grimaced throughout while bowling 11 overs on Sunday, said he had been suffering from pain in his right bicep tendon.
“I don’t want to eat my words but the likelihood I won’t play is very unlikely. I’ll always try to give everything, always try to run through a brick wall for the team,” Stokes said when asked about his chances of playing at the Oval in three days’ time.
“It’s my bicep tendon. It obviously had a lot of workload through it but it didn’t get any worse and hopefully it settles down and will be as good as gold for last game. But yeah, (I spent) a lot of time out in the middle doing my job as an all-rounder this week and (it) just got a little bit flared up…
“Bowling, being out on the field it is tough work. I’m feeling pretty sore. I’ve physically been better. But I’ll keep trying, keep going and as I say to all the bowlers: pain is just an emotion.” Stokes has been bowling full throttle in the ongoing series and is currently the leading wicket-taker with 17 scalps. In Manchester, he has also got his first five-wicket haul in eight years before topping it up with a big hundred in England’s massive first innings total of 669.
Having toiled through 143 overs in India’s second innings at Old Trafford, Stokes indicated that England would need “fresh legs” for the fifth Test starting Thursday.
“If you look at how long we’ve been out in the field and the overs that we bowled as a bowling unit, everyone is going to be pretty sore and pretty tired going into the last game of the series,” Stokes said.
“There will be an assessment of everyone, and hopefully we can use these next two or three days’ rest period wisely and then have to make a decision.“These recovery days are going to be pretty important and we might have to make a few decisions to get some fresh legs in. But that won’t be decided until we get closer to the last game.” (PTI)
