Stokes is facing scrutiny on knee

BEN Stokes will head to The Oval ahead of his England team-mates to test his knee injury and work out how many overs he can bowl in the hosts’ Champions Trophy opener against Bangladesh.

Captain Eoin Morgan confirmed the plan for a last-minute pointer on the key all-rounder’s fitness, although England are already content Stokes will bowl at least a handful of overs if necessary alongside their fiveman frontline attack.

Morgan will be happy if Stokes can contribute five, having mustered that number in aggregate over his two matches against South Africa before resting his sore left knee in Monday’s defeat at Lord’s.

“He’ll come down early for a bowl,” said Irishman Morgan.

“It will be as much as he feels he needs, and, for him, it’s confidence and getting through his delivery without any pain and being able to slam his foot down, psychologically being at ease with that and then just going straight into the game.

“I envisage him being fit to bowl, I don’t see any complications as to why he can’t.”

Morgan, bidding to lead England to their first one-day international global trophy, will balance immediate needs with the longerterm viability of keeping Stokes fit for major assignments to follow the Champions Trophy.

“I never get too far ahead,” he said.

“I don’t want to put him under a huge amount of pressure to bowl 10 overs.

“We have guys who can impact a game as much as he can, particularly with the pace we have got.

“I think you always look to him as a minimum of five overs.

“If he only came in and bowled three overs it’s still huge.

“However, obviously the form he’s in at the moment, and the way he’s batting, it’s literally like having two players.”