Ben Stokes thinks he’s superman, but his body is falling apart with the Ashes in sight

3 months ago 16

Sometimes the trouble with being Superman is knowing when the cape has to come off.

Ben Stokes is the world’s leading all-rounder and an inspirational captain of England, but he has bowled himself into the ground in a tightly packed series against India and now has a torn shoulder with a 10-week recovery time.

Ben Stokes bowled with a torn shoulder in Manchester.

That will leave Stokes and England with precious little breathing room between the end of the recovery process and the start of the Ashes series in November. His Manchester pronouncement that “pain is just an emotion” has aged about as well as his creaking body.

Over four of the five Tests played on flat surfaces, 34-year-old Stokes bowled 140 overs against India. That’s more than 20 overs more than he has ever bowled in a series in his entire career – including the period before he started to be dogged by injuries.

Stokes felt that he had to bowl those overs because with 17 wickets at 25.23, he was the most effective bowler on either side of a series dominated by the batters. But by doing so, he was running enormous risks when looking at a grim history of injuries.

Serious knee trouble that Stokes tried to play through over several years required surgery at the end of the epic 2023 Ashes series. After he recovered and returned to regular bowling, Stokes then suffered a pair of major hamstring tears in 2024, the second of which also forced him to visit the surgeon.

This latest shoulder problem, which Stokes bowled through during the closing stages of the ill-tempered Old Trafford draw, is a repeat of a previous injury suffered in the Indian Premier League in 2017. In his final few overs, Stokes was clutching his shoulder, and ignored the pleas of his captaincy predecessor Joe Root to rest.

All this is to say that Stokes’ body is falling apart, and with coach Brendon McCullum, he will need to have a serious think about his best value to England during the Ashes.

Undoubtedly, England need a quality all-rounder in Australia. Cameron Green’s contributions to Pat Cummins’ side in recent summers have helped them maintain their place as the world’s foremost Test side, and Beau Webster subbed in admirably for Green’s bowling against India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies.

But with Stokes constantly risking injury by bowling so much, the tourists run the very real gauntlet of losing him from the team entirely. After the Manchester Test, Stokes spoke optimistically about playing as a batter only at the Oval. Instead, he will now be on the sidelines for the series decider, leaving England to be led by Ollie Pope.

“It’s obviously very, very disappointing, but the right decision, especially with what we’ve got coming up after,” Stokes said after withdrawing from the final Test. “It’s a grade three tear of a muscle I can’t pronounce. Going out there and risking something further, it could end up being a lot longer [on the sidelines] than that.”

The way Stokes has thrown himself around against India is part of what makes him so beloved by England supporters.

“When I’m out on the field I play to win and give everything I possibly can,” Stokes added. “If I feel there’s a moment in a game where I need to put everything I’m feeling aside I’ll do that because it’s how much this team means to me, how much playing for England means to me, how much winning means to me.

“There’s absolutely nothing I could have done before. Being a professional sportsman, injuries are part of this game and I can’t do anything about that.”

Ben Stokes (left) and Ravindra Jadeja exchange words at the end of the match.

This highwire act, though, contrasts with the much more careful, sensible way in which other countries now manage their most precious resources. India have used Jasprit Bumrah cautiously this series, and he may well miss the Oval.

Australia, meanwhile, have the world’s most successful record in terms of keeping their precious fast bowlers fit, and Wednesday’s team announcement showed how. Cummins and Mitchell Starc are missing a heap of white-ball games against South Africa to build up deliberately for the Ashes, while Josh Hazlewood’s work is closely managed.

Green is very gradually on his way back to the bowling crease following back surgery last year, but even when he does return, his share of the bowling load will be nothing like that of Stokes against India.

It has already been noted in the UK that Stokes’ latest injury has followed an extremely crammed series devised to clear room for the Hundred, now with privately owned franchises. That is something for Cricket Australia, now considering their own sale of Big Bash League clubs, to think about.

England’s superman has a tough road ahead to return to full flight in time for the Perth Test. Even then, Stokes will have to consider his flying hours for the remainder of the Ashes.

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