The future of Ben Stokes as an international all-rounder came under fresh scrutiny after he hobbled off the field in Hamilton clutching his left hamstring as England headed for a crushing defeat in the third Test.
He had just sent down the second ball of his 37th over of the third Test against New Zealand – his heaviest workload for two and a half years – when he grimaced, grabbed the back of his thigh and carried on walking across the boundary and into the pavilion.
Stokes is due to take up a lucrative contract with MI Cape Town in the SA20 franchise league starting on January 9, while England play their first game of a white-ball tour of India a fortnight later. Their 50-over Champions Trophy campaign, meanwhile, starts in Pakistan on February 22.
He was due to undergo a scan after the third day’s play to assess the full extent of the injury.
Whatever its outcome, his latest injury scare – which looked similar to the one he suffered during the Hundred in August, when he was ruled out for two months – raises new questions about his ability to perform a crucial balancing role as England’s fourth seamer in next winter’s Ashes.
Stokes had declared his body ‘good as gold’ before the first Test in Christchurch, but admitted ahead of the Hamilton game that he now has to ‘work so much harder on the physical side of the job’.
Ben Stokes was forced off the field by a hamstring injury on a bruising day three for England
He had just sent down the second ball of his 37th over of the third Test against New Zealand
The all-rounder grimaced and grabbed the bag of his leg before making his way off the field
He added: ‘As you get older, you think about your body a bit more, but I work harder because I have to. I am more confident about getting through a lot of spells in a day.
‘That is where I got to before I pulled my hamstring. I bowled nice in the summer and had a setback, but now feel I’m out of that and not worrying about anything else happening again.’
Stokes had sat out the home series against Sri Lanka as well as the first Test in Multan after tearing his hamstring playing for Northern Superchargers, and recently admitted he had become too absorbed by his return to fitness – to the detriment of England’s chances in Pakistan.
As ever, it has not been easy for him to find a happy medium between his love of the fray, and the fragility of his 33-year-old body. Despite England clinching the series in Wellington, the 23 overs he bowled on the first day here was the most he has sent down in any day of a Test since his debut 11 years ago.
And the setback came less than 24 hours after assistant coach Paul Collingwood said it was ‘great he’s got his body back into a place that he can bowl as many overs as he feels he needs to. It’s a huge positive for us moving forward’.
An England spokesman confirmed Stokes – who looked distraught as he walked off – was ‘receiving treatment for a left hamstring issue. He will not return to the field in this innings and will undergo further assessment to determine his availability to bat in England’s second innings.’
The injury was part of a dispiriting third day for England at Seddon Park, which began two and a half hours late because of rain, and witnessed an innings of 156 from Kane Williamson – his 33rd Test century, and seventh on his home ground, where he averages 94.
As New Zealand built on their first-innings lead of 204, Williamson extended his fourth-wicket stand with Rachin Ravindra to 107, before Ravindra skewed Matthew Potts to mid-off for 44.
Former captain Kane Williamson struck an inspired 156 on his home ground in Hamilton
The No 3 struck 20 fours in his mammoth innings that saw him spend almost five hours at the crease
Zak Crawley was trapped lbw by Matt Henry – the sixth time in the series he has dismissed the England opener
Williamson was fortunate to survive a strong lbw appeal from Brydon Carse on 73, but was otherwise untroubled by England’s spinners until he top-edged a slog-sweep off Shoaib Bashir to deep midwicket.
The rest of the innings was a flurry of sixes – five alone to Mitchell Santner – and wickets, with Jacob Bethell’s left-arm spin picking up his first three in Tests. Tim Southee, his second victim, fell for two in his final innings for New Zealand, missing out on the pair of sixes he needed to become only the fourth Test player to hit 100.
When they were finally dismissed for 453, it left England two days and half an hour to make 658, at which point Southee bowled Ben Duckett off an inside edge for four to earn the biggest cheer of the day.
To no one’s great surprise, Zak Crawley was then pinned leg-before in the day’s penultimate over by Matt Henry for five – the sixth time he has dismissed him in the series.
Crawley had already overturned one lbw decision by umpire Adrian Holdstock, and when his second review showed the ball barely clipping leg stump, he walked off shaking his head. His latest failure took his aggregate here to 52 runs at 8.66 – the lowest average for an England opener in a series of at least six innings.
When play ended moments later, England were 18 for two, and on course to end their year with a monstrous defeat.
