Stokes now a long shot

ENGLAND superstar Ben Stokes has undergone a second finger operation that looks set to lengthen the odds of what was already an unlikely appearance in the Ashes in Australia.

Stokes has been on indefinite leave from cricket since pulling out of this summer’s Test series against India, and the presence of the Headingley hero of 2019 in this summer’s Ashes is very much in doubt.