‘The risk was way too high’: Ben Stokes ruled out of fifth Test with India

Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the final Test match of England’s international summer with a grade-three muscle tear in his shoulder, sustained during the drawn fourth game against India at Old Trafford. Ollie Pope will captain the side in his absence as England seek to defend their 2-1 lead and complete a series victory.

Recovery from a muscle injury of such severity is estimated to take between six and 10 weeks, though England’s medical team have estimated Stokes’s likely recovery time at around seven weeks. England are due to arrive in Australia for the start of their Ashes preparations in just over 14 weeks, with their captain optimistic that he will have fully recovered in time for a potentially career-defining series.

“We took as long as we could to make the decision,” Stokes said. “I came down [to the Oval] this morning to give myself every chance just to play as a batter – bowling was ruled out as soon as we got the scan results. It’s one of those where weighing up the risk and reward, the risk was way too high. Hearing where it could head to, it wasn’t something that was worth taking a risk on. I wouldn’t expect to put any of my players at risk of an injury like this. So I’ll start rehabbing now and focus on what we’ve got coming up in the winter. Once this series was done I was feet up anyway, so it doesn’t make too much difference.”

Only one of the specialist bowlers involved in Manchester has been picked to play again just three days later: Chris Woakes remains in the team but Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and the spinner Liam Dawson all drop out. Archer is rested. The Surrey seamers Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton come into the side on their home ground alongside Worcestershire’s Josh Tongue, as does Jacob Bethell, who will bat at No 6 and, alongside Joe Root, offer a spin option.

“The way the Oval generally plays, the seamers are the ones who take your wickets,” Stokes said. “We felt we had to have four seamers, because that’s giving yourself the best chance to win the game before a ball’s been bowled. This [wicket] looks like it has a lot more live grass than the other wickets we’ve played on, so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a lot more assistance there for the seamers.

“We’ve still got a team of 11 matchwinners. One person doesn’t win you a game. Just because I’m playing or I’m not playing doesn’t mean we’re going to win or lose. This is an opportunity for 11 different people to put their hand up and hopefully win a game for England.”

India are yet to announce their team but are certain to be without their vice-captain Rishabh Pant, who having injured a finger during the third match at Lord’s fractured a bone in his foot on the first day in Manchester – Dhruv Jurel, who stood in as wicketkeeper in the last two games because of Pant’s injuries, is expected to replace him. Jasprit Bumrah, who revealed before the series started that he would be limited to playing three games and participated in his third at Old Trafford, is also presumed absent.

skip past newsletter promotion Sign up to The Spin Free weekly newsletter Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers' thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week’s action Enter your email address Sign up Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy . We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. after newsletter promotion

England’s lineup: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue

Click here to read article