Ben Stokes has hinted he will be more cautious with his workload as he looks to make his latest injury comeback stick ahead of a huge nine months for English cricket.
Stokes will lead his side out at Trent Bridge on Thursday for the start of the Test summer, with Zimbabwe the opponents for a one-off encounter.
Beyond that, though, lies a crucial run of ten Tests that look set to define Stokes’s captaincy, with a five-match series against India later this summer and then the Ashes tour to Australia at the end of the year.
The 33-year-old has not played competitive cricket since tearing his hamstring on the tour of New Zealand just before Christmas, an injury which required surgery.
Stokes also went under the knife after suffering a similar injury last summer and while he says he is ready to bowl in Nottingham this week, admits he will have to box clever if he is to play a full role as an all-rounder later in the summer.
“I’ve obviously been training a lot over the last two months and got myself back as close as I possibly can to match intensity,” he said.
“But this will be my first game in a while. There is a bit of a gap between how far I can push myself in training and in a game.
“I’ve done all the work I need to get out there and bowl some overs, but I’ve got to be mindful of where I am and build myself back up to proper match workload for later on in the summer. I’m not getting any younger.”
England’s pace attack has a fresh look this week, with Josh Tongue recalled for the first time since the 2023 Ashes and Sam Cook handed a debut.
“I think for him it’s going to be a big, big relief that he was able to get back out on the field and now he sees himself walking back out on the field for England again,” Stokes said of Tongue, who has suffered a string of injuries since his breakthrough two summers ago.“
Cook has been spoken about in meetings and stuff for a long time because his record speaks for itself but it was all about timing for us.
“I thought it was inevitable and it was just a matter of time when Cook played for England, but the timing was always going to be a key thing for me, in particular.”
Meanwhile, Chris Woakes is set to make his comeback for England Lions against India ‘A’ in the upcoming two-match series, having missed the start of the county season with an ankle problem.
Woakes has been named in a 15-man squad that includes brother Farhan and Rehan Ahmed, teenager Rocky Flintoff and Jordan Cox, who was originally named in the Zimbabwe squad before picking up an abdominal injury.Jofra Archer misses a planned red-ball return after sustaining a thumb injury at the IPL, but Stokes has not yet ruled out playing against India ‘A’ himself should he feel the need for more cricket on the back of this week’s Test.
“It will just sort of be how I feel at the end of this,” he said. “If I feel like I need any more game time before we head into India. I can’t really say how that’s going go at the moment because I’ve not played yet.
“That’ll probably be a late decision depending on how I feel I get through this Test match.”
