Ben Stokes will undergo surgery in January and has been ruled out of action for at least three months with a torn hamstring.
The England men’s Test captain suffered the injury while bowling in the third Test against New Zealand in Hamilton last week and scans have revealed the extent of the damage will keep him on the sidelines until the spring.
An ECB statement said: “Ben Stokes has been ruled out of all cricket for at least three months after further assessments confirmed he has torn his left hamstring. The Durham all-rounder will undergo surgery in January.”
The injury will rule Stokes out of the SA20, the Twenty20 tournament in South Africa next month, and the Champions Trophy in February, though England do not play Test cricket again until facing Zimbabwe in May at Trent Bridge.
It is Stokes’s second hamstring injury in five months but after the Test in Hamilton the all-rounder said he had no regrets and would not be holding back.
“Obviously, I was incredibly disappointed walking off,” Stokes said. “I was very emotional about the whole thing. You’re asking yourself: ‘Could I have done more? Should have done this, should have done that?’ But you know, when you sleep on it, and you take the emotion out of it, you realise you’re always putting yourself at risk of an injury.
“I worked my arse off to get to where I was in this game in particularly with my body. It’s just sod’s law – the first time in a while I feel like I’m young again, something happens.
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“I worked really hard to get myself into position to play the role that I did this game. It’s just one of those unfortunate things. But nah, I ain’t holding back.”
