Ben Stokes, captain of England, has indicated that he is open to having “serious conversations” over the possibility of undergoing surgery on his problematic left knee as he prepares for another attempt at winning the Ashes in 2025/26.
During the course of the last year, Stokes has been limited by a persistent ailment, and he has often shown signs of being in obvious discomfort during the present series against Australia.
The all-rounder had planned to play a significant role with both the bat and the ball during this Ashes series; but, the normally lively swing bowler has been limited to only 29 overs so far in this series, and he didn’t bowl at all during the two most recent tests.
Due to the fact that hitting and fielding both put a strain on his physical endurance, the 32-year-old player understands that he cannot continue to play in the same manner for much longer and still be successful.
However, the last match of the Ashes will take place this week at The Oval, and England has to win in order to even the series at 2-2. This will be England’s last Test match for six months until they go to India, and the lengthy break between red-ball contests may allow Stokes the opportunity to have surgery.
When asked on the eve of the last match of the Ashes series on Wednesday whether he would now consider surgery as well, Ben Stokes said, “Yeah, it’s something I obviously want to get sorted.” He took a cortisone injection before to this year’s Indian Premier League to help control his symptoms, and when asked if he would now consider surgery as well, he said, “It’s something I obviously want to get sorted.”
“When I’ve seen specialists and other such people, there’s been cricket around, so as long as it’s been manageable, we’ve just gotten on with it.”
“Despite the fact that I was pretty broken after the Lord’s game (in which his stunning 155 was not enough to prevent Australia from winning the second Test), I still managed to walk out.”
“I believe that this is an appropriate time to have some serious conversations with medics about what I could potentially do to get a role in which I can bowl without having to worry about my knee,” the player said. “I think this is a good time to have some serious conversations with medics about what I could potentially do.” Those are the kinds of discussions that will be possible for us to conduct during that time off.
‘Frustrating’
He continued by saying, “It has been frustrating in the last couple of years, not being able to have the same impact and play the same role that I have done for the last 10 years.”
At 2-1 ahead in the series, the incumbent Australia is already certain to keep the Ashes, regardless of the outcome of the match that will take place this week in London.
Because of this, the next time England will win the Ashes series will be at least ten years from now, given their most recent victory was in 2015.
Stokes expressed his desire to be included in the next England tournament that will take place “Down Under” (in Australia).
“It’d be nice to go out to Australia in 2025 and have a good chance of winning,” he remarked at the time. “It’d be nice.”
The way that this series has gone and how close we came to winning it, it does make you wonder, when we next travel to Australia, ‘do we have a better chance than the past few times?’
“The Ashes is such an important series for English and Australian cricket, and it would be nice to say that I’ve won it twice.”
Given how much he contributed to England’s success when they won the 50-over World Cup on their own turf four years ago, Stokes has formally retired from one-day internationals. However, England would welcome him back for their defense of their championship in the 50-over World Cup in India later this year, despite the fact that he is no longer playing in those competitions.
Stokes, on the other hand, responded to rumors that he will play in one-day internationals during the World Cup by proclaiming, “I’m retired.”
He continued, saying, “After this game, I’m going on vacation.” That’s as far as my thoughts go at this point. However, there is a limit to the amount of ‘break’ that one can tolerate. When you’re with the other guys, you realize how much you miss being in that atmosphere. In around two to three weeks, I will most likely get bored and just plan a team game or anything along those lines.