Stokes, Woakes add to England uncertainties against South Africa

England will have to make "a very late call" on their playing XI for the first Test against South Africa, starting at Centurion on Thursday, captain Joe Root said on Tuesday.

With all-rounder Ben Stokes at the bedside of his critically ill father and Chris Woakes the latest victim of illness that has swept through the touring squad, Root admitted that the build-up to the four-match World Test Championship series had been "frustrating".

But Root said he was confident that England could field "a very competitive team" even if some leading players were not available.

Stokes' father Ged was admitted to hospital in nearby Johannesburg on Monday with what an England statement said was a "serious illness".

Fellow all-rounder Woakes did not train on Tuesday because of illness, but Root said the recovering Stuart Broad, Jofra Archer and Jack Leach were making good progress.

"We will have to keep them monitored over the next couple of days and see how things go."
"We need to play good hard cricket and win this series but most important for us as a squad is we need to make sure that Ben and his family get all the support they need."
"We've got some very competitive players who are desperate to prove themselves. If they get an opportunity they will want to come out and put in a performance for England. We're going to have to make a very late call on our team."
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"We've done the right things this week as a team and now it's about going out there and putting in performances on the field."
"There's a real energy in the squad, a real positive feel to what we've been doing, how we have been training in the last week and the information that's been spoken about."
"It's so important to have guys like that in a dressing room. If you look around at international cricket, other teams have got that. You look at the Australian team, you look at (Justin) Langer, (Ricky) Ponting, (Steve) Waugh."