The curse of Ben Stokes has continued, with concerns the English captain has driven himself into the ground this Ashes series by trying to do it all in a bid to revive the tourists hopes against Australia.
As grandly as Stokes has batted in his last two innings in Brisbane and Adelaide, the English skipper was conspicuous for his absence from the England attack throughout Friday.
While England assistant coach Jeetan Patel told reporters at the Adelaide Oval that he believed Stokes was “fit to bowl, he’s just pretty knackered” and Fox Cricket expert Isa Guha said there is clearly “an injury circumstance” with the champion.
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“It wouldn’t be fatigue. There is absolutely no way it would be fatigue with the situation of the game,” she said.
“I heard a stat that he has spent only 90 minutes off the field of play. He has been batting. He has been bowling. He has been captaining. He has given it absolutely everything in every Test match and that has just cost him in the end.
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“There is clearly a niggle. There is clearly a reason he is not bowling. He went off the field at one stage and he was having a look at his right groin at one stage on the field. That is not good news.”
Leading into the Ashes, former England captain Michael Vaughan identified the fitness of Stokes, who underwent shoulder surgery and missed the final game of the India series in August, as one of the chief issues for the tourists given their reliance on him.
That reliance has been evident in all three Tests, with Stokes playing a starring role with the ball in the first innings in Perth and a lone hand with the bat at the Gabba.
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In partnership with Jofra Archer, he gave England a chance to make the Adelaide Test competitive with the bat but expended so much energy he was unable to take the ball with the game on the line, which Aussie great Mark Waugh said is scarcely a surprise.
“He is a warrior, but he can only do so much,” the Fox Cricket analyst said.
Among the pitfalls with Bazball is that because England bat so quickly, they scarcely give their fast bowlers the necessary time to recover between innings.
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It has been exacerbated in the Ashes by the fact Stokes, in particular, and Archer have wagged while the top order has failed, which has further diminished their reserves.
Archer, who was superb when taking five wickets in the first innings, was miserly but not menacing on Friday when managing ten overs, the fewest of England’s front line bowlers aside from Stokes.
But it is the fitness of Stokes, who must back up within a week to feature in the Boxing Day Test prior to the New Year’s Test at the SCG, that is a concern according to Fox Cricket’s pundits.
Aussie great Adam Gilchrist said the ability of Stokes to carry such a significant workload for England is worrying.
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“Ben Stokes, we have all wondered just how much of a load can he carry?” Gilchrist said.
“The captaincy. The tactics.The bat. The ball. Well, he didn’t have the ball today because of all that time out there in the field yesterday batting, he just wasn’t able to get himself up. I don’t know if it is an injury, or just fatigue.”
Waugh suspects Stokes hurt his groin in Brisbane and said “everything is just in on top of him at the moment” with the Aussies on the verge of retaining the Urn in record time.
“He just can’t seem to get a grip on the game and relax,” he said.
“There is so much pressure on him. Every time he bats, every ball, the whole series depends on him keeping the ball out, so there is a lot of pressure.”
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