After suffering a hamstring injury in The Hundred, England Test captain Ben Stokes is on track to lead the side on their tour of Pakistan next month.
On August 12, Stokes was in action in The Hundred for Northern Superchargers, but pulled up after completing a single and had to be helped off the field. A day later, it was announced that he had torn his left hamstring, and would miss the remainder of the English summer.
Stokes had played in England's first series of the summer against West Indies, in which he led the hosts to a 3-0 series victory. However, the injury ruled him out of England's second series of the summer against Sri Lanka. Ollie Pope captained England in Stokes' absence, and managed to record a 2-1 win over a spirited Sri Lanka outfit.
There had been concerns over Stokes' return to fitness and, at the time of the injury, there were fears the all-rounder would not make it back in time for England's second subcontinental tour of the calendar year, to Pakistan.
Stokes remains on track to play Pakistan Tests
However, an update from the ECB has put those fears to rest. On Wednesday (September 25), the board announced the following: "England Men’s Test captain Ben Stokes today underwent planned scans on the hamstring injury that ruled him out of the Test series against Sri Lanka.
"The results of the scans were positive and confirmed that his recovery, since sustaining the injury six-and-a-half weeks ago, remains on track to participate in the upcoming Test series against Pakistan."
Read more: Khurram Shahzad ruled out through injury as Pakistan name squad for first England Test
Earlier this month, Stokes had said at the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London that he was touch-and-go as far as fitness was concerned for the first Test against Pakistan, which begins on October 7. Stokes had emphasised then that the recurrence rate of hamstring injuries was quite high, and he would like to ensure his full fitness before returning to action.
Speaking on Sky Sports in Durham on Tuesday, Stokes did say he would still be cautious about bowling: “There’s a lot more than just my hamstrings that I need to get back firing again, in terms of bowling, because you use everything. So I need to get that all right to make sure that I don’t do any more damage to any other parts of my body.”
Apart from Stokes, England have named six pace bowlers to tour Pakistan, perhaps as a precautionary measure if Stokes' fitness was in doubt. In addition, Stokes had only just returned to bowling consistently during the home series against West Indies after a long period of not doing so in Test cricket.
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