Brisbane, Nov 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) England men's cricket team managing director, Ashley Giles, has said that all-rounder Ben Stokes' progress would be closely monitored, adding that he could be a doubtful starter given that he hasn't played competitive cricket for nearly five months.
Stokes also took a blow to his arm at the visitors' practice session on Sunday but Giles said it was nothing serious and that the all-rounder was "progressing well in his training with the squad".
Stokes was a late addition to the England squad for the five-Test Ashes as he was prioritising his mental health and recovering from a second surgery on a finger injury.
"Ben seems to be going well and it's just great having him around. We've still got to be steady with him, he hasn't played a lot of cricket lately and, going back to that prep period, it's not ideal for anyone but particularly the guys who haven't had a lot of cricket under their belt. We'll just keep building him up and see where we are at the end of this four-day game," Giles told news.com.au on Sunday evening.
Stokes had suffered a fracture to his left index finger while fielding for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2021 in April. After leaving the tournament, he needed surgery. In July, Stokes led a fresh ODI team to a 3-0 series win over Pakistan when the first choice team was unavailable due to COVID-19 outbreak.
Stokes had a second surgery in October to remove scar tissue and two screws from the left index finger.
"I'm hopeful and I would always like to be confident. We've just got to treat Ben carefully, as we would with anyone else who has been in that position of not having a lot of cricket under their belts. He will be a difficult man to hold back if he is ready to go," said Giles.
The England players would be hoping to get Test-match fit when they begin their four-day warm-up game against England Lions from Tuesday. The Test players who were part of the ICC T20 World Cup in UAE will travel to Brisbane -- the venue for the first Test starting December 8 -- from their quarantine base on the Gold Coast on the morning of the warm-up match, along with head coach Chris Silverwood.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz