{"id":358013,"date":"2025-12-19T09:37:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358013\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T09:37:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:37:09","slug":"ben-stokes-fitness-concerns-update-condition-is-he-fit-enough-to-bowl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/358013\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Stokes fitness concerns, update, condition, is he fit enough to bowl"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

While England assistant coach Jeetan Patel told reporters at the Adelaide Oval that he believed Stokes was \u201cfit to bowl, he\u2019s just pretty knackered\u201d and Fox Cricket expert Isa Guha said there is clearly \u201can injury circumstance\u201d with the champion.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Watch The Ashes 2025\/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt wouldn\u2019t be fatigue. There is absolutely no way it would be fatigue with the situation of the game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

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England’s Ben Stokes. AP Photo\/James ElsbySource: AP<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is a warrior, but he can only do so much,\u201d the Fox Cricket analyst said.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

England drop Head on 99! | 00:21<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s front line bowlers aside from Stokes.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s Test at the SCG, that is a concern according to Fox Cricket\u2019s pundits.<\/p>\n

Aussie great Adam Gilchrist said the ability of Stokes to carry such a significant workload for England is worrying.<\/p>\n

Travis Head smashes home ground 100! | 01:08<\/p>\n

\u201cBen Stokes, we have all wondered just how much of a load can he carry?\u201d Gilchrist said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe captaincy. The tactics.The bat. The ball. Well, he didn\u2019t have the ball today because of all that time out there in the field yesterday batting, he just wasn\u2019t able to get himself up. I don\u2019t know if it is an injury, or just fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waugh suspects Stokes hurt his groin in Brisbane and said \u201ceverything is just in on top of him at the moment\u201d with the Aussies on the verge of retaining the Urn in record time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe just can\u2019t seem to get a grip on the game and relax,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head century puts Australia in charge | 02:51<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The curse of Ben Stokes has continued, with concerns the English captain has driven himself into the ground…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":358014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[139006,64,63,689,29465,2129,651,195823,3567,1208,156221,90277,2057,98402,195822,195827,195825,120441,124540,17055,195821,3583,677,46,701,30382,195824,85,195828,5338,195826,44867,3439],"class_list":["post-358013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-adam-gilchrist","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-australian-superstar","tag-ben-stokes","tag-brisbane","tag-chief-issues","tag-courtney-walsh","tag-england","tag-english-captain","tag-english-skipper","tag-europe","tag-fitness-concerns","tag-front-line-bowlers","tag-head-century","tag-injury-circumstance","tag-isa-guha","tag-mark-waugh","tag-michael-vaughan","tag-mystery-brews","tag-northern-europe","tag-oceania","tag-perth","tag-queensland","tag-shoulder-surgery","tag-smashes-home","tag-sports","tag-tactics-the-bat","tag-the-gabba","tag-tourists-hopes","tag-travis-head","tag-western-australia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=358013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/358013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/358014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=358013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=358013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=358013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}