Ben Stokes is the latest player whose fitness for England’s opening Test of the summer has been thrown into doubt, with the coach of his Indian Premier League team admitting that the Test captain is unable to bowl and is being seen simply as “batting cover”, six weeks after his last appearance in the competition.
Despite being signed for around £1.6m in December’s player auction Stokes has so far played only the first two of Chennai Super Kings’ 13 games, scoring seven and eight and conceding 18 runs in his solitary over. Stephen Fleming has said Stokes, who has a left knee injury, is unlikely to appear in their last two matches as the team seeks to seal a place in the playoffs. “Ben’s ability to bowl overs at the moment is still a bit of a challenge but he’s there as batting cover,” the New Zealander said, adding of his potential selection in the remainder of the season that “it’s not our style to chop and change”.
That has also been England’s hallmark in their first year under the stewardship of Stokes and Fleming’s compatriot Brendon McCullum. But for all their consistency of selection there is a lot of uncertainty about the makeup of the side that will play Ireland at Lord’s in a fortnight, and of the squad for that game which will be announced on Tuesday.
One name whose presence is guaranteed is Jonny Bairstow, who has returned to full fitness following last September’s freak golfing injury and is ready to test McCullum’s public promise that “as soon as he’s fit he’s back in the side”. Bairstow has kept wicket in the two games he has played this month for Yorkshire and with Harry Brook having flourished over the winter at No 5, where the 33-year-old played to such effect last summer, he seems likely to be given the gloves and a place at No 7, thereby nudging Ben Foakes out of the side and perhaps the squad.
Foakes was repeatedly described as “the best wicketkeeper in the world” by Stokes last year but his restrained batting style – “I’m not, as you’d say, Bazball,” as he put it in February – sits uneasily with England’s overall approach since McCullum’s appointment. This decision may need to be postponed should Stokes decide to spend the Ireland Test on the sidelines.
Jimmy Anderson’s groin injury, confirmed late on Sunday night after a scan on Saturday, has turned another certain starter into a mere possible – and with the Ashes in mind no risks are likely to be taken against Ireland. Meanwhile, the three bowlers of express pace that England had planned to rotate through the summer might all start it on the sidelines, with Jofra Archer still discomfited by an elbow injury, Olly Stone already out with a hamstring strain and Mark Wood at home awaiting the birth of his first child.
This could lead to the return of Chris Woakes, who has not played a Test since last March, the dying days of Joe Root’s captaincy, having been ruled out of the entire 2022 summer with a persistent knee injury. Saqib Mahmood and Matthew Fisher, two other players with Test experience, will also be considered by a committee that for the first time includes Luke Wright after his appointment as selector last November.
Woakes’s appeal is boosted by a remarkable record at Lord’s, where in five matches he has taken 27 wickets at an average of 11.33 (of those who have played there at least four times the only other Englishman whose bowling average is below 14.5 is WG Grace, with 13.0). England selectors will also remember that when Ireland played a Test there in 2019 Woakes took six second-innings wickets for 17 runs in 7.4 overs to propel England to victory. If selected he would join Anderson, Stuart Broad, Ollie Robinson and Matt Potts as seam options, alongside the spinner Jack Leach.
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Meanwhile, the ICC’s cricket committee has bowed to pressure – including from Stokes and Broad, as well as India’s former captain, Virat Kohli – to stop requiring on-field officials to give a soft signal when they refer decisions, such as low catches, to the TV umpire. “Soft signals have been discussed at previous cricket committee meetings over the last couple of years,” said the chair, Sourav Ganguly. “The committee deliberated this at length and concluded that soft signals were unnecessary and at times confusing.”
