Courtesy: X
England Test captain Ben Stokes is reportedly set to undergo a scan on his hamstring injury next week to determine whether he will be fit to take the field in the first Test on the tour to Pakistan, beginning on October 7. After suffering a hamstring injury during the Hundred, while being a part of the Northern Superchargers, he had to miss out on three home Test matches against Sri Lanka, while his involvement on Pakistan tour isn’t for certain despite being selected as captain of the Test team.
Notably, during his recovering phase, Ben Stokes has taken to the nets at the Chester-le-Street in Durham last week, and turned up for the Celebrity Pro-Am at the PGA Championship golf this week, according to the report from the BBC. As far as the scan is concerned, it is planned by England as part of monitoring the recovering from hamstring injury for Ben Stokes rather than ascertaining any setbacks in regards to it.
Ollie Pope led England in absence of Ben Stokes during three Tests against Sri Lanka
The 17-member squad of England, captained by Ben Stokes, is slated to depart for Pakistan on October 1, within a week of the first Test match at the Multan Cricket Stadium. If Ben Stokes isn’t fit to take the field against Pakistan in the early stages of the Test series, then Ollie Pope will continue to lead England in the stand-in role, which saw him win a three-match Test series against Sri Lanka 2-1 at home.
During his recent chat with ESPNcricinfo, Ben Stokes addressed his hamstring injury, and how he plans to be very careful about making a return to cricket after recovering from it. He was quoted as saying, “I'd rather take an extra two weeks than run the risk of potentially doing something worse and then putting myself out of the game for longer," he said. "I'm just making sure that I'm doing everything right and everything I possibly can to try and give myself a chance to being fit for that first Test.”
In his last Test appearance in July, which happened against West Indies at Edgbaston in Birmingham, Ben Stokes scored 57* off just 28 balls with nine fours and two maximums, to help England chase down 82-run target in just 7.2 overs.
