Ben Stokes has emerged as an injury doubt for England’s World Cup curtain-raiser against New Zealand on Thursday, with a sore hip placing question marks over his place.
Stokes reversed his year-long retirement from ODI cricket in order to help defend the title he helped secure in 2019, despite concerns over his long-term fitness.
The 32-year-old has been struggling with a chronic knee condition in recent years and was selected as a specialist batter for the tournament after deciding to spare his body the rigours of bowling.
But on the eve of the opening match at the cavernous Narendra Modi Stadium, the biggest cricket venue on the planet with a capacity of more than 130,000, he was still being assessed.
Stokes has not played since smashing 182 against the Black Caps on September 13 and was the only squad member to play no part in this week’s warm-up victory over Bangladesh.
Captain Jos Buttler, speaking ahead of his side’s final training session, said: “He’s got a slight niggle with his hip, but fingers crossed that it’ll be good news for us. We’ll see.
“He’s working hard with the physios and we’ll know more when the guys arrive for training.
“We’ll make the right call. If he’s not fit to play, he’s not fit to play. If he is, we can make that decision.
“It’s not the time to take big risks on someone at the start of the tournament. Nearer the end, maybe you do take more of a risk with people’s injuries but it’s going to be a long tournament.”
Liam Livingstone praises England spinner Rehan Ahmed as ‘exceptional talent’
Teenage leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed has shone for England in the Caribbean to such an extent that Adil Rashid’s absence has gone unnoticed, according to all-rounder Liam Livingstone.
Rashid is arguably the greatest white-ball bowler England have ever produced and, even though he has previously intimated he has many more years left, the double World Cup winner turns 36 in February.
He will be back for the T20 series against the Windies this month after being rested for the ODIs, but the hole left by the Yorkshireman has been filled seamlessly by Ahmed.
Ahmed is England’s youngest senior male player in all three formats and has furthered his blossoming reputation against the Windies by recording identical figures of 10-1-40-2 in two ODIs in Antigua.
Livingstone believes he is getting the rub of the 19-year-old’s reliability after taking three wickets with his own spin on Wednesday, where England’s win set up a series decider in Barbados on Saturday.
“The flexibility that we’ve got – Rehan has obviously come in and replaced Rash, we don’t even know that Rash isn’t here,” Livingstone said.
“Rehan’s been incredible for us, he’s an exceptional talent we’ve got coming through.
“What one of our strengths has been for years is the depth we have, not only in our batting but our bowling as well. As a spin department we’ll be happy with (the win).”
With Rashid out of the side and Moeen Ali likely to become a T20 specialist, Livingstone is now one of the senior players in the set-up and is keen to take more responsibility.
“Mo and Rash have been incredibly supportive and helpful of me bowling over the last couple of years,” the 30-year-old said.
“I guess it’s my turn to kind of take that over from them and maybe try and help Rehan and (fellow spinner Will) Jacks along the way.”
By his own estimation, Livingstone is currently a bowler who bats rather than the other way around as his runs have dried up since ending the English summer with a flourish against New Zealand.
Following a sparkling unbeaten 95 at the Ageas Bowl in September, the Cumbrian has a top-score of 28 in his last nine innings, while he averaged a paltry 10 in six knocks during England’s miserable World Cup.
Asked to pinpoint where he might be going wrong, Livingstone said: “If I had the reason I’d have probably changed it by now. I keep turning up to training, trying as hard as I can.
“I guess maybe just try to put a little bit less pressure on myself and go out and enjoy myself like I have done my whole career. It only takes one innings to change it around.
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“I’ve had it before and I’m sure when things do change around, I’ll look back on this time in my career as something that was probably a massive learning curve for me.”
Even if he is in a trough with what first brought him into England’s limited-overs sides, Livingstone is happy to provide an increasingly useful option with the ball.
“Being able to affect the game and getting key wickets for us at key times, is probably a little bit more satisfying than getting runs at certain times,” Livingstone added.
Shamar Joseph grabs 5-76 but South Africa “A” set West Indies “A” 421 to win decisive third “Test”
West Indies “A” will once again have a mountain to climb on day four of the third “Test” against South Africa “A” if they want to complete a series win.
The hosts began Thursday’s day three in Bloemfontein 104-3 with a commanding 252-run lead with Zubayr Hamza unbeaten on 33 and Khaya Zondo on 29.
While Zondo was dismissed quickly for 31, Hamza carried on to make a brilliant 110* off 152 balls including 12 fours and a six.
He shared in a crushing 159-run fifth wicket partnership with Ruan de Swardt who made a 126-ball 86 including nine fours and a six.
South Africa eventually declared at 272-5 off 66 overs, leaving the West Indies “A” needing a massive 421 for victory.
Shamar Joseph took all five wickets for the West Indians while conceding 76 runs in 18 overs.
Windies “A” ended the day 47-1 off 20 overs, with Zachary McCaskie being the batsman dismissed for eight.
Kirk McKenzie (26) and Tagenarine Chanderpaul (11) are the batsmen at the crease.
Full Scores:
South Africa “A” 274 off 67.4 overs (Khaya Zondo 70, Neil Brand 62, Zubayr Hamza 30, Kevin Sinclair 5-44, Shamar Joseph 3-65, Shermon Lewis 2-68) & 272-5 dec. off 66 overs (Zubayr Hamza 110*, Ruan de Swardt 86, Khaya Zondo 31, Raynard Van Tonder 30, Shamar Joseph 5-76)
West Indies “A” 126 off 42.5 overs (Kevin Sinclair 50, Jordan Johnson 33, Dane Paterson 4-34, Hardus Viljoen 2-43) & 47-1 off 20 overs (Kirk McKenzie 26*, Tagenarine Chanderpaul 11*)
Little bit of relief – Sam Curran and England bounce back in Antigua
Sam Curran refused to dwell too much on his weekend drubbing and believes he demonstrated his strength of character by helping England level their ODI series against the West Indies.
Curran recorded the most expensive figures by an England bowler in ODIs on Sunday as the Windies drew first blood in the three-match series, finishing with nought for 98 after 9.5 bruising overs.
He returned to the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium in Antigua on Wednesday and laid the groundwork for England’s six-wicket win, snaring top-order trio Keacy Carty, Brandon King and Shimron Hetmyer.
After a redemptive display as he regained his moniker of “making things happen”, Curran felt there was nothing to be gained from focusing on the negatives as he drew an emphatic line under the experience.
“Any time you bowl in certain scenarios, you know you’re going to have a tough day but I think if you dwell on those things too much, I feel like it would have probably affected me here,” he said.
“The big, big messaging from this group was ‘you’ve got to learn from those situations’ and I feel like I’m a very strong character in that regard. I don’t feel like that’s going to affect me at all.
“Hopefully I just bounce back stronger and learn from those days that are tough. There’s a little bit of relief, I guess, it was a tough day the other day but it was fantastic to get the win here.
“I feel like I haven’t played a huge amount over the last couple of months, like any player it’s a bit of rhythm and confidence and fingers crossed we can keep looking forwards.”
Curran was axed from the side after three anonymous displays at the World Cup, where he averaged 11.66 with the bat and took two wickets and leaked 140 runs in 17.2 overs.
Scrutiny increased on his long-term role in a new-look ODI set-up after being taken down by the Windies but Curran was named Jos Buttler’s vice-captain ahead of this series, emphasising the premium England place on the 25-year-old.
“Jos mentioned before the series if he’d like me to do it, that’s a great honour,” he said. “I do feel like more of a senior player in the side so that was a nice, proud moment.
“I definitely feel like I can play all three formats. People can have their opinions that I might not be able to but I feel like I’m a player who likes to back myself in all those tough moments.
“The message is that it’s a new side at the moment and it’s looking forward for the next couple of years.
“I think the energy around the group has been fantastic as well. It feels like a lot of energy and buzz around the group right now and I feel quite a big part of that, so I feel that’s a good thing.”
Curran’s three for 33 saw the Windies slip to 23 for four and while there were knocks of 68 from Shai Hope and 63 by Sherfane Rutherford, Liam Livingstone snuffed out any chance of a substantial total.
He dismissed Rutherford then Hope en route to figures of three for 39, with Gus Atkinson and Rehan Ahmed chipping in with a couple of wickets apiece as the Windies stumbled to 202 all out in 39.4 overs.
Will Jacks thumped four sixes in his sparkling 73 off 72 deliveries but his dismissal left England on 116 for four and the game on a knife-edge as the out-of-form Jos Buttler strode to the crease.
Without a fifty in his previous 13 ODIs and out for single figures in five of his last eight innings, the batter often touted as England’s greatest in the white-ball formats rediscovered his Midas touch.
He was twice beaten on the outside edge early on by leg-spinner Yannic Cariah but gradually found some fluency, thumping three sixes in his unbeaten 58 from 45 balls, sharing an unbroken 90 with Harry Brook.
It was left to Brook to hit the winning runs, finishing on 43 not out, as England won with 103 balls to spare to set up a series decider in Barbados on Saturday.
“We take a lot of happiness from our team-mates doing well, especially our captain, it’s really exciting,” Curran added. “Jos did what we know Jos can do.”
The Windies are now the side on the ropes ahead of this weekend but captain Hope said: “This is gone, we can’t control a thing that happened in this game or even the first game. We have to look ahead.”
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