Ben Stokes eases injury fears ahead of third Test after helping England to West Indies victory

Stokes admits he didn't want to risk injury ahead of third Test.
Getty Images for ECB
Will Macpherson20 July 2020

Ben Stokes allayed fears over his fitness after his man of the match performance helped England to a series-levelling win against West Indies.

Stokes scored 254 runs and took three wickets but, having taken the ninth wicket to fall in West Indies’ second innings, pulled up four balls into his 28th over of the match, with captain Joe Root taking over.

"I'm fine, the body just started to get quite stiff,” he said. “I said to Broady [Stuart Broad], 'my body is starting to get quite stiff, what do you reckon?' and he just said 'stop' - I remember three or four years ago against Pakistan I had the same thing and I ended up blowing my calf so I didn't want to take that risk.”

Root labelled Stokes “Mr Incredible” after his superb all-round performance and both men were confident he would be available on Friday for the Third Test, which is also at Old Trafford.

"[Ben Stokes] doesn't surprise me. You watch how he goes about his business in practice whether it be fitness or anything, he leads the way in many respects. He seems to want to keep getting better and better and we're seeing those results out on the field. It's great for a lot of the young guys to see that, you've got to put the hard yards in, he certainly does that and we're starting to see that feed into the rest of the team, which is a great place to be."

“We are watching a player at the peak of his powers, at the peak of world cricket. We are in the presence of greatness.”

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