CRICKET – ENGLAND captain Ben Stokes will miss the fifth and final Test against India at the Oval because of a shoulder injury and fast bowler Jofra Archer has been rested.
Stokes, player of the match in the draw at Old Trafford after smashing a century and taking six wickets, was ruled out of the match beginning today after scans on his right shoulder.
England lead the series 2-1.
“I’ve got a decent tear of one of the muscles that I can’t pronounce,” Stokes told reporters yesterday.
“Obviously we took as long as we could to make that decision. Obviously a bit of emotion going into this kind of stuff when you find out what you’ve done.
“It’s one of those where it was weighing up the risk reward, and the risk was way too high for damaging this any further than it currently is. I wouldn’t expect to put any of my other players at risk with an injury like this.”
Stokes said there was no danger of the injury impacting on England’s Ashes tour in Australia later this year and said six or seven weeks of rehabilitation would be required.
Ollie Pope will captain the side in Stokes’s absence with Jacob Bethell recalled to take the number six slot.
Archer played back-to-back Tests at Lord’s and Old Trafford in what is the injury-prone pacer’s first Test series in four years and a third match would have been considered a risk.
Pace bowler Brydon Carse and spinner Liam Dawson were also dropped as England included the pace trio of Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue.
Stokes said the match was a chance for others to shine.
“We’re still able to field an 11 that’s going to give us a very good chance of winning this game and winning the series,” he said. “That’s the benefit of having a very strong squad.”
India rescued a draw in Manchester on Sunday, ending the final day on 425-4 despite having been in huge trouble at 0-2 the previous day after trailing by 311 on first innings.
There was some needle in the closing stages as Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar completed centuries with frustrated England wanting to call time on play with no result possible.
“Jadeja and Washington played incredibly well up until that point, so you sort of understand as to why they wanted to stay out there and get the hundreds,” Stokes said.
“I’m not going to bowl any of my bowlers in a situation where we can’t win the game and expose any of those guys to injuries. We’re over it. I think India are over it.
“Let’s just try our best not to focus too much on a 20 minute period of cricket in what has been a really good series.”
Meanwhile, India captain Shubman Gill has refused to rule pace bowler Jasprit Bumrah out of contention for the fifth Test.
Bumrah, who is the joint-leading wicket taker in the series with 14, was expected to miss the decisive clash as India’s medical staff want to manage his workload.
But Gill said any decision would be left late.
“We will take a decision (on Bumrah) tomorrow; the wicket looks very green. So we will see how it turns out,” Gill told a Press conference at the Oval yesterday.
Bumrah was scheduled to play only three of the five Tests and has already featured in the opener at Headingley and the back-to-back Tests at Lord’s and Old Trafford.
Should Bumrah miss out, India would likely select Akash Deep or even hand a debut to Arshdeep Singh.
“He has been asked to get ready but we will take a call on the playing eleven after looking at the pitch by this evening,” Gill said. “England haven’t gone with a frontline spinner.
“We have Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, who have done such a good job with the ball and the bat. On that front, it’s a no-brainer for us.”
India are without wicket keeper Rishabh Pant, ruled out by a foot injury in the fourth Test which ended in a draw on Sunday. Dhruv Jurel is set to stand in.
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