No Stone to be unturned in Ashes bid

OLLY Stone admitted a burning ambition to resume his Test career and get a first taste of Ashes cricket next year is why he has not yet turned exclusively to the shorter formats.

The England fast bowler has had multiple injury issues and the latest of four stress fractures in his back prompted an operation last year to fit a metal screw designed to strengthen his spine.

His luckless run continued when he broke a finger in July and had to go under the knife again, but the 29-year-old still feels he can add to his three Test caps, the most recent of which was in June 2021.

Building himself back up in white-ball cricket was always the aim but he has discussed a Test return with England captain Ben Stokes and hopes to be selected for the trip to New Zealand in February.

“I’ve spoken to Stokesy and just said how I want to still play Test cricket, I’ve still got that hunger,” said Stone. “One of the main reasons why I went down the surgical route was to be able to hopefully withstand that amount of cricket and demand on my body.

“After Christmas there’s a combination of white-ball cricket and franchise cricket that hopefully I can keep my loads up and get me in a place that I can put my hand up and be selectable for Test cricket.”

Stone is with England’s ODI squad in Australia – they play the final game of a three-match series in Melbourne today having lost the first two – but this week he heads on to the Abu Dhabi T10 to play for Chennai Braves, which is set to be his first experience of franchise cricket.

As for whether he would consider forgoing red-ball cricket in light of his injury struggles, having featured just nine times in all formats for England in four years, Stone confessed only time will tell.

“There’s nothing better than five days of hard graft and coming off hopefully with a win,” he said. “That hunger of playing Test cricket and seeing what happens in the Ashes is something I really want to be a part of.

“My main goal in having back surgery was to be able to get back out there and if my body fails me this time then I know I’ve done everything I can.’’