Stokes is set to miss Ashes after surgery
ENGLAND all-rounder Ben Stokes has undergone another operation on his left index finger and is a major doubt for this winter’s Ashes.
The all-rounder has been on a sabbatical since the end of July, when it emerged he wanted to focus on his mental wellbeing as well as allow the injury - which he first suffered while fielding in the Indian Premier League in April - to fully heal.
He first had surgery after an X-ray detected a fracture, but he described feeling ‘ridiculous’ pain when he came back at short notice.
The 30-year-old missed the Test series against India and was ruled out of the forthcoming Twenty20 World Cup. He went back under the knife earlier this week to remove some screws and scar tissue from his finger.
He remains unlikely to feature in the Ashes if the series goes ahead, with England once again not wanting to put any timescale on Stokes’ return.
Stokes answered England’s SOS over the summer after an outbreak of Covid-19 among players and backroom staff ahead of the ODI series against Pakistan led to a stand-in squad being hastily assembled.
But while his team sprung a mild surprise by winning all three matches, Stokes admitted he was still hugely irritated by his finger injury and had a pain-killing steroid injection to make it through the series.
Stokes, the talisman of England’s 2019 World Cup-winning campaign, then had a cameo in the inaugural edition of The Hundred in July before it came to light the finger injury was compounded by him struggling with off-field issues.
He was placed on an indeterminate hiatus with England’s blessing and is said to have had little contact with those in the team, apart from Test captain Joe Root.