Ben Stokes to miss start of County Championship due to knee injury

Ben Stokes return to the County Championship has been delayed for at least a month. Stokes underwent a scan on his left knee, after England‘s tour of West Indies last month. The right-arm pacer was seen in some sort of trouble during England’s 1-0 series loss. However, he was still the most-utilized bowler by skipper Joe Root during the course of the three Tests.

To note, Stokes opted out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 mega auction in a bid to play several early-season matches for his county side Durham, before the Test match series against the New Zealand starting from June 2.

At the moment there is no training: Ben Stokes

Stokes admitted that his return to county cricket is likely to be delayed. “I think it was pretty obvious that I was struggling with my knee a bit out in the Caribbean,” Stokes said. “At the moment there is no training. So I will go and get the scans and then we can find out what’s going on, and then hopefully can make a plan from there,” Stokes said on Talking on the Round the Wicket podcast.

The England Cricket Board (ECB), on April 8 (Friday) also confirmed that Stokes has undergone scans, but played down the long-term significance of the findings.

“Ben had a scan on his left knee which didn’t reveal anything new. We had planned for him to return to LV= Insurance County Championship cricket in early May and, while he is feeling tender in the knee, that plan remains the same following the scan. We’ll continue to manage him in conjunction with Durham,” a spokesperson was quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Talking about Stokes numbers in Test cricket, the 30-year-old has represented England in 79 matches, in which he has scored 5061 runs at an average of 35.89. The left-handed batter has already stroked 26 fifties and 11 hundreds in longest format of the game. In bowling, he has scalped 174 wickets.