Stokes to undergo knee surgery after World Cup, hopes to be fit for India tour in January

PTI, Nov 3, 2023, 3:51 PM IST

Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes is set to undergo a knee surgery after the ongoing World Cup in his bid to regain full fitness ahead of next year’s five-Test series in India.

The 32-year-old, who has been struggling with his knee for at least 18 months, initially planned to go for the procedure after the Ashes series in July but later decided to come out of retirement to play in the ODI World Cup.

Stokes, the Test captain, has been playing as a specialist batter in the showpiece.

”I am having surgery after the World Cup. Hopefully, I’ll be fine for the Test series in India,” Stokes told reporters on the eve of their World Cup clash against old foes Australia.

”When we go to those meetings we generally take a physio and doctor and they start talking. I just turn up, go to sleep, wake up and hope it is better.” England are set to play five Tests in India starting with the opening match from January 25.

”We’ve been crap” 

Stokes’ presence didn’t help much as England’s title defence lay in tatters after losing five of their six games.

”I think the problem is that we’ve been crap. To be honest with you, we’ve been crap,” Stokes said. ”Everything we’ve tried throughout this World Cup, through trying to put pressure back onto the opposition in a way in which we know, or trying to soak up the pressure in a different way, which we know we’ve done before and been successful with, it’s just not worked.

”Every opportunity that we’ve had in front of us where we feel like we can take control of the game, the opposition’s managed to get it back towards them. And we’ve just not been able to even got close to putting a full game together except against Bangladesh.” Apart from their win against Bangladesh, England have looked a pale shadow of their earlier self, when their attacking style of play fetched them two global titles — the 2019 ODI World Cup and T20 World Cup last year.

”We know that as individuals and as a team, I think that’s where it is as a team, we’ve been nowhere near good enough to be able to compete in a World Cup, which has been incredibly disappointing because we know we’re so, so much better than what we’ve shown out here. ”And not having an answer and being able to understand as to why it’s gone wrong is very simple. That’s the answer. Because if we knew what had gone wrong, we would have been able to fix it. But unfortunately, we don’t. ”It’s just been one of those tournaments where, yeah, it’s just been a disaster. And there’s no point sugarcoating it because it’s probably what you’re all going to write anyway, and it’s true.”

”Shami is bowler of the World Cup”

Stokes, who has not bowled since the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, hasn’t been able to fire with the bat either, having scored just 48 runs in his three games so far.

In their last match, Indian pacer Mohammed Shami had him in tangles in a fiery spell and his 10-ball stay ended with the final delivery disturbing his stumps.

”I’ve played a lot of cricket against Shami, he’s a fantastic bowler and I think we watched him last night and they brought a stat up in a World Cup that is quite phenomenal actually. He’s been obviously the bowler of the World Cup, I think,” he said.

”I don’t think he’s played every game but the way in which he’s, in every situation and every game he’s come in it’s been incredible the amount of wickets he’s taken. He’s just found a way to be able to get wickets. ”Obviously that spell against us was one of many he’s had this World Cup. Sometimes you just say to the opposition that you’re very good and Mohamed Shami’s been very good throughout this whole World Cup.”

Exercise and ‘juice asthma’

Stokes was seen using an inhaler during a practice session in Bangalore ahead of their match against Sri Lanka last month.

”I’ve actually got exercise and juice asthma, so sometimes going from – I get it when it’s cold, but obviously, it doesn’t happen here that often. But sometimes it happens when you go to a new city in India where the air is slightly different,” he said.

”So yeah, that could be a reason for it. Bangalore when we actually turned up just felt a lot fresher, but doing the running that I was doing does bring it on a lot easier than normal. So, that could be a reason for it.”