Skipper Ben Stokes has been England’s best bowler across the first four matches of the series despite some ongoing injury ailments, but the inspirational captain suggested he would be fit to take the field in the series decider with the side’s next Test after the London showdown not until the opening clash of the Ashes series against Australia in November.
“It’s been a pretty big workload so far in the series,” Stokes admitted.
“I had a big week last week at Lord’s, with time spent out in the middle with bat in hand and obviously overs bowled, and then same again this week. I said it a few times to the guys out there: ‘Pain is just an emotion.’ It’s just one of those things.
“It is actually my bicep tendon. It obviously had quite a lot of workload through it, just been creeping around. But yeah, (I have spent) a lot of time out in the middle doing my job as an all-rounder this week and (it) just got a little bit flared up. It didn’t get any worse throughout the day, just stayed the same, so that’s why I kept on going.
“Hopefully, it settles down and we’ll be good as gold for the last game…I don’t want to eat my words, but the likelihood that I won’t play is very unlikely.”
