Follow UsBen Stokes could miss England’s 2023 World Cup opener against New Zealand in Ahmedabad on Thursday (October 5) due to a hip issue, with skipper Jos Buttler confirming he wouldn’t want to take a gamble on his star player’s fitness right at the start of the tournament.
Stokes didn’t feature in England’s second warm-up game against Bangladesh on Monday. "He's got a slight niggle with his hip. But fingers crossed that it'll be good news for us. We'll see. He's working hard with the physios, and we'll know more when the guys arrive for training today," said Buttler in the pre-match press conference.
"We'll make the right call. If he's not fit to play, he's not fit to play. If he is, we can make that decision. It's not the time to take big risks on someone at the start of the tournament. Nearer the end, maybe you do take more of a risk with people's injuries, but it's going to be a long tournament."
Stokes announced his retirement from ODIs in July 2022, but many were expecting England’s hero of their 2019 World Cup triumph to return for the 2023 showpiece event. The England Test captain didn’t play a single ODI for close to 14 months. On top of that, during the last Ashes series, Stokes said he would use the World Cup period to sort out his left knee injury.
However, two weeks later, Stokes was named in England's squad for their four-match series against New Zealand and in their provisional World Cup squad, and went on to register the highest individual score for an England batter in men's ODIs.
The left-hander scored 52 in his comeback game but was dismissed for 1 in the second ODI against the Black Caps. Then came the third encounter and Stokes whacked 182 off 124 deliveries, studded with 15 fours and nine sixes, to let the world know he is well and truly back.
If Stokes is out, England could bring in Harry Brook in the middle-order. "We all know what a fantastic player he is. He's at the start of an international career that's been outstanding in T20 cricket and the Test format. He's not played loads of ODI cricket, but it's a format that should suit him perfectly," said Buttler.
"It'll allow him to bat for a long time and make big runs, and that's something he enjoys doing. He's got all the shots, and we know from Test cricket that he can play big innings. It's a format that should suit him really well."
England's next game is against Bangladesh in Dharamsala on October 10.