Ben Stokes walked off with an injury midway through an over while bowling on day three of the Hamilton Test between England and New Zealand.
Stokes, bowling his 13th over of the innings clutched his left hamstring immediately after being hit for a four off the second ball. He spent several weeks on the sidelines with an injured left hamstring earlier this year.
The England captain immediately went off the field with his deputy Ollie Pope taking over as the stand-in skipper. Jacob Bethell was asked to finish the rest of the over.
That is the second injury scare involving Stokes in this series. Earlier in the Christchurch Test, he limped off the field in the midst of his 20th over of the game, the heaviest Test bowling workload in two years since the first Test in Pakistan in 2022. In Hamilton, Stokes was in the middle of his 37th over of the match, meaning he had already surpassed his workload from the series opener.
Ben Stokes has limped off...
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) December 16, 2024
Here's hoping it's nothing too serious 🤞 pic.twitter.com/2eKNKFbaUg
"England captain Ben Stokes, is currently receiving treatment for a left hamstring issue. He will not return to the field in this innings and will undergo further assessment to determine his availability to bat in England's second innings," a statement from the England Cricket Board (ECB) read.
Over the years, Stokes has occasionally been deployed as a specialist batter owing to injury. His most recent injury came in The Hundred earlier this year, where he injured his left hamstring, ruling himself out of Sri Lanka’s tour of England and the first Test in Pakistan.
Having won the first two Tests, England are eying a historic clean sweep. However, the hosts, fought well to take a 204-run first innings lead. A hundred from Kane Williamson in the third innings stretched their lead past 450. Notably, both teams are out of the 2023-25 World Test Championship final race.
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