Stokes, who made a return to the ODI set-up ahead of the World Cup after announcing his retirement from the format last year, has not played any of England’s first three games in the tournament. The all-rounder has been sidelined due to a hip complaint, reduced to a spectator as his side slipped to defeats against New Zealand and Afghanistan.

England now need to win five of their last six games in the World Cup to have a strong chance of making the semi-finals.

They could be bolstered by the return of Stokes, who had targetted the match against South Africa for a comeback. The Test captain had batted in Delhi ahead of the Afghanistan game, but despite being “close” to playing the match, according to Jos Buttler, he eventually did not feature in the XI.

England’s head coach Matthew Mott has given an update on Stokes, saying they are “confident” he would play against the Proteas. “We’ve obviously been relatively conservative with him, but the medical staff were always confident that South Africa was a game we could target,” Mott said on Tuesday. “I haven’t had a report on him in the last 24 hours, but before that, he was on target.

“So fingers crossed, he can tick off all the things that need to be ticked off and he comes back into that side. He’s like the spiritual leader of the group in many ways, and he certainly spoke really well after the game the other day, and spoke about that need to really assert ourselves.”

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Stokes also spoke to his teammates following the Afghanistan defeat, asking them to play more aggressively in the remaining games. He had also spoken to the camp following the loss to Ireland in the 2022 T20 World Cup, after which England went on to win four successive games, including the final.

Stokes, who starred in the 2019 World Cup final, has made 3,159 runs at an average of 40.50 in 108 ODIs and has taken 74 wickets as well since his debut in 2011.