CWC 2023: Ben Stokes likely to be ruled out of opening fixture vs New Zealand

Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes is likely to miss the opening fixture of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 between England and New Zealand on October 05 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. Stokes has got a slight niggle in his hip ahead of the world cup opener as informed by England captain Jos Buttler.

“He’s got a slight niggle with his hip. Fingers crossed that it’ll be good news for us. He’s working hard with the physios and we’ll know more when the guys arrive for training today. We’ll make the right call: if he’s not fit to play, he’s not fit to play,” England captain Jos Buttler was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo.

Notably, Stokes also didn’t feature in England’s warm up game vs Bangladesh in Guwahati on Monday due to a hip injury after their first warm up game vs India got washed out. Further speaking ahead, Buttler said that he’s not willing to take big risk early on in the tournament.

“If he is, we can make that decision. It's not the time to take big risks on someone at the start of the tournament. Nearer the end, maybe you do take more of a risk with people's injuries, but it's going to be a long tournament,” Buttler added.

Harry Brook likely to replace Stokes

Stokes recently made a comeback to ODIs after announcing his retirement from the format in July 2022. The 32-year-old made a comeback for the ages as he registered the highest-ever individual score by an England batter in ODIs. Stokes played a magnificent innings of 182 (124) smashing 15 fours and nine sixes in his innings.

He finished as the second highest run-scorer of the series having scored 235 runs from three innings at an average of 78.33 and a strike rate of 115.76 with one hundred and one fifty to his name.

The all-rounder is likely to be replaced by the young batting sensation Harry Brook who also batted at his position in the warm-up match.