The England vice-captain suffered knee problems during the tour of the West Indies; he is set for more checks in a bid to determine how he progresses, with the domestic season set to resume ahead of a busy summer international schedule due to kick off against New Zealand in June.
Ben Stokes suffered problems during the tour of the West Indies
Ben Stokes is hoping to get a clearer picture of his summer plans after the scans on his knee.
The England vice-captain struggled during the tour of the West Indies, when Joe Root’s side fell to defeat in the Test series after a disappointing loss in Grenada.
Stokes is set for further checks in a bid to determine how he can move forward, with the domestic season set to resume ahead of another busy summer international schedule due to kick off against New Zealand in June.
“[With] my knee problems in the Caribbean, they’re doing all the scans…so I literally can’t make any plans until we see what’s going on there,” Stokes said in 4C’s around the wicket podcast.
“At the moment, there’s no training until you get these scans, then we find out what’s going on and hopefully we can make a plan from there.”
After draws in the first two Test matches, England undid all their efforts with a poor batting display in Grenada as the West Indies won by 10 wickets.
However, Stokes feels the team can learn from its shortcomings to produce more consistent results under pressure.
“I said in the locker room after the last game, unfortunately all the hard work we put into the first two games is going to be forgotten because of how this last game has gone, and that’s how the game works,” Stokes said.
“It’s what people focus on, but I think what we need to do is obviously play a little bit more with the man than the situation.”
“It’s something we’ve all been guilty of, even with the ball and with the bat, sometimes when we’re in critical situations we can be a little guilty of playing the situation instead of playing the man.”
“I think that’s something that this whole group can take forward, really break it down a lot simpler and just say ‘okay, it’s me against you’ instead of me against the whole situation of this whole game.”
