England captain Ben Stokes has been ruled out of the first Test against Pakistan, which starts on Monday in Multan, and will not play in the second Test as his recovery from a hamstring tear is faster than expected but not yet complete. is in jeopardy.
“I did everything in my power to get fit for this first game, but I have decided to sit out this game,” Stokes said. “I'm not ready to play yet. I have 10 days, which is enough to get ready for the second time. Looking at the future and my physical situation while I'm rehabbing, I think I'm still not ready to play. I haven’t done it.”
Stokes was injured while playing for Northern Superchargers in the Hundred in August and missed the Test series against Sri Lanka that ended England's red-ball summer. Ollie Pope was captain that series and will continue in that role here.
The second Test will also be held in Multan, starting in just 10 days, but Stokes has a fresh but pressing target and is “not sure” whether he will achieve it. “I've had to push myself incredibly hard and work hard with my medical team to get to where I am now,” he said. “I think I'm further along than I expected today and I'm going to work just as hard over the next 10 days to give myself a chance to take part in the second Test.”
England have named their squad for the first of three scheduled matches in Pakistan, with Brydon Kearse set to make his Test debut against the same opposition he made his first international appearance in an ODI in Cardiff in 2021. It will be.
Joe Root said: “He's a wicket-taker, you've seen that in white-ball cricket and in Durham. I am.
“It's really exciting to have a guy in your team who can turn a game around in a split second and can bat as well. I think he'll give the team a huge amount of money.”
In Stokes' absence, the only change to the top seven that played the final test of the summer at the Oval was the return of Zak Crawley. Chris Woakes will bat at number seven in his first away Test since the last series captained by Root against West Indies in March 2022, and his first time in Asia since December 2016.
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Jack Leach will return for his seventh away Test in the last eight. Leach has missed the last two Tests with what has been described as a “lower back condition”, which he suffered from a knee injury at Hyderabad earlier this year and which turned out to be a lumbar stress fracture against Ireland at Lord's in June last year. I couldn't finish it. . Both will play here, although Somerset teammate Shoaib Bashir was preferred this summer.
england team: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Kearse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir.
