Ashes 2021-22: England all-rounder Ben Stokes made a comeback after quite a while. The England international did not take part in the 14th edition of the Indian Premier League in the United Arab Emirates.
After that, he did not take part in the Twenty20 World Cup in the Gulf nation as well. The 30-year-old all-rounder had earlier skipped the home series against India. He missed all the important assignments due to mental health concerns.
The all-rounder took time off to prioritise his mental health. Besides that, he gave himself much time to heal totally from a finger injury. However, Stokes had recently announced his decision to turn up for the five-match Ashes series.
Nonetheless, the all-rounder didn’t have the best start as he failed to deliver the goods with the bat and all against Australia. He managed to score just 5 runs in the first innings and then chipped in with 14 runs in the second innings.
Stokes ended up wicketless in both innings. Meanwhile, the all-rounder conceded that he was far from being impressive because of his older knee injury that troubled him in the Ashes opener at The Gabba in Brisbane.
The all-rounder’s old knee injury blighted his performance in the game. However, he asserted that he is pretty much confident in managing his knee injury during the Ashes series.
Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes confident of managing his knee injury
England lacked the killer instinct to compete with Australia at The Gabba. Australia won the game by 9 wickets and took a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The second Test kicks off on December 16 at Adelaide Oval in Adelaide.
Stokes has represented the England cricket team in 72 Tests. The southpaw scored 4640 runs at an average of over 37. He slammed 24 fifties, 10 centuries and a double century. Stokes said he knows how to manage his old injury.
Meanwhile, writing in his column for The Mirror, the all-rounder had pointed out that he didn’t do much in Brisbane, so the injury could not have gotten worse. He wrote: “Having a long break is going to show itself, but there are no excuses.
“I didn’t do anything whatsoever except take a catch and bowl a few no-balls so the one positive is I probably can’t get much worse.” He stressed the fact that he is well aware of how to tackle the injury.
Stokes wrote: “People will have seen me rubbing my knee from time to time when I was in the field, but rest assured I’m fine. It’s an old injury that flares up every now and again, but I know how to manage it. It just gets a little bit uncomfortable … in and around my cartilage, but it just looks worse than it is by the way I try and get off it as soon as I can.”
England captain Joe Root also backed Stokes to come good in the forthcoming Ashes encounters. Root added: “Obviously, he had a bit of a jarring of his knee … so hopefully it’s just something he’s shaken off now and you can see him back at full intensity and it gives us all options on the table.”