STOKES OUT FOR THREE MONTHS

BEN STOKES is set to miss a huge chunk of the schedule after learning he needs surgery on a broken finger. The England all-rounder faces up to three months out and is on his way home from India for the procedure on Monday.

He is in danger of missing 14 England matches due to the injury and the recovery time on a fractured left index finger sustained in the IPL. Stokes will miss England’s Test series against New Zealand at the start of June as well as the two white-ball series against Sri Lanka that follow.

Even the ODI and T20 series against Pakistan in July could be too ambitious for Stokes, right, to jump straight back in. Cricket chiefs will also be sweating on his availability for the start of The Hundred in July. However, he should be back in time for England’s marquee series of the summer – the five Tests against India that begin in early August. At least his body will be well-rested for the demands

of a T20 World Cup and Ashes series to come at the end of the year.

Stokes, 29, has suffered a carbon copy of the injury he sustained on his right index finger 10 years ago.

Then, he travelled to America for corrective surgery on an injury commonly suffered by basketball players when their fingertips get jammed by the ball. Surgeon Doug Campbell will look after Stokes after operating on his broken wrist in 2014. He has just removed glass from the hand of Jofra Archer, left, as a result of an accident with a fish tank.