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England captain Ben Stokes is on track to be fit for the start of the Ashes series against Australia and he'll have a new vice-captain Down Under in Harry Brook. England's 16-man squad for the Ashes was announced on Tuesday and will be led by Stokes, who has been recovering from a shoulder injury that ruled him out of the final test of the home series against India this summer. The first test of the Ashes is in Perth from Nov. 21 and Stokes is expected to be available, England said. Brook, England's recently appointed captain in the white-ball formats, will take over as vice-captain of the test team from Ollie Pope, who kept his place in the squad. Among the pace options is Mark Wood, who returned to the squad following his recovery from a left knee injury and Matthew Potts, who last featured at test level in December against New Zealand. Shoaib Bashir has recovered from the finger injury sustained during the India series and is the only specialist spinner selected. Batting allrou
England were "disappointed and frustrated" at not winning the intensely-fought five-match Test series against India but the 2-2 result was "probably fair", feels home team captain Ben Stokes. India beat England by six runs in the final Test here to draw the series. The visitors made a remarkable fightback on the final morning on Monday, picking up the remaining four England wickets quickly to bowl the hosts out for 367. Stokes did not play the final Test at the Oval due to a shoulder injury. "I think the series as a whole even before this game, it was just all four games going to five days. This one again. It's been toe to toe pretty for 25 days. You know, two teams, two very good teams who have thrown everything at each other. Left nothing out there," Stokes said. "From a cricket fan's point of view 2-2 is probably fair. Obviously, we're disappointed now to have not got the result that we wanted to give us a series win, there's obviously that disappointment and a little bit of ...
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
England captain Ben Stokes is not signing on the over rate related paperwork after his team was docked two World Test Championship (WTC) points for slow over rate during the Lord's Test against India. England won the match but slow over rate cost them two crucial WTC points, reducing their tally to 22. Stokes said the International Cricket Council (ICC) needs to review the existing rules for over rate considering different conditions around the world. I'm not signing the form, no. Over rate isn't something that I worry about, but that's not saying that I purposely slow things down. I do understand the frustration around it, but I honestly think there needs to be a real hard look at how it's structured, Stokes said in the pre-match press conference here on Tuesday. You can't have the same rules in Asia where spin is bowling 70 percent of the overs to have the same laws in New Zealand, Australia, England, where it's going to be 70, 80 percent of seam bowled, because the spinner's ove
Ben Stokes' batting form has steadily deserted him over the years, more so at a time when he should be leading an under-fire England team from the front, says former skipper Michael Atherton after the hosts were humiliated by India in the second Test at Edgbaston. Atherton reckons that in his three years at the helm, the series against India is Stokes' sternest test of leadership qualities. It is been two years since Stokes hit the last of his 13 hundreds at Lord's in an Ashes Test where he would be back for the third Test against India starting on Thursday. "To add to the problems of back-to-back matches, little rest, a heavy defeat and bad judgment is his own form with the bat, which has declined with each year he has been in the job," Atherton wrote in his column for 'The Times'. "As a dedicated one-format player who does not play much cricket outside Tests sometimes of his own accord Stokes is in the invidious position of being short of rhythm and form just when he needs to l