Ollie Pope will captain England for the first time next week after Ben Stokes was ruled out of all three Tests against Sri Lanka with a serious hamstring tear.
Stokes is now in a race against time to be fit for the three-Test tour of Pakistan in October after scans revealed he had a grade three tear of his left hamstring, which will rule him out for the remainder of the summer. The 33-year-old suffered the injury running a single in the Hundred while playing for Northern Superchargers on Sunday evening.
In his absence, Pope will step up to lead the side against Sri Lanka, with the series beginning at Emirates Old Trafford next Wednesday, before moving to London for Tests at Lord’s and the Kia Oval. Pope, 26, has been Stokes’s vice-captain since late 2022 and will become England’s 82nd men’s Test captain.
Stokes had only recently returned to full-time all-rounder status, following a major operation on a longstanding left knee injury last November. He has worked hard on his fitness in the past year, losing 10kg, making the injury a cruel blow. Stokes was always unlikely to play white-ball cricket for England in September or in the County Championship run-in, but he has been ruled out of that, too. He will be a key player for England on the flat pitches of Pakistan and it is understood he will be touch-and-go for the start of that tour on October 5.
An England and Wales Cricket Board statement said: “As a result of the scans conducted in Leeds on Tuesday, Stokes will miss England’s three-match Rothesay Test series against Sri Lanka.
“The all-rounder is aiming to return for England’s winter Test tour of Pakistan, scheduled to start in early October.”
Pope was withdrawn from his final game in the Hundred, at Headingley last night, to ensure he is fit to join up in Manchester at the weekend. Chris Woakes was also withdrawn from Hundred action on Monday, but a number of Pope’s players were involved last night, including fast bowlers Olly Stone and Matthew Potts, who will be vying to replace Stokes in the XI.
At this point, England have not added a replacement for Stokes to their squad, which has 13 members. That leaves them with a choice over whether to replace their key all-rounder with a batsman, the uncapped Jordan Cox, or to promote Woakes to No 7 and select an extra bowler, Stone or Potts. Either way, they will find themselves short in one department.
England are already missing Zak Crawley, who has a broken finger, for the entire series against Sri Lanka. In his absence, Dan Lawrence will step in to open with Ben Duckett. The uncapped quick Dillon Pennington has also dropped out of the squad who beat West Indies 3-0 last month with an injury picked up playing in the Hundred.
Stokes is expected to join the Test team at Old Trafford next week. This is the first time Stokes has missed a Test through injury since taking over from Joe Root as full-time captain in June 2022. It leaves Root as the only ever-present of the Bazball era.
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