England are sweating on the fitness of Ben Stokes after their star all-rounder appeared to injure his left knee on a chastening day for the touring side in Brisbane.
Stokes, who has had issues with his left knee since undergoing surgery on it in 2016, appeared to damage it again when diving in the field on day two of the Gabba Test, in which he bowled nine overs for 50 runs.
Jon Lewis, England’s bowling coach, admitted that there were some concerns over whether Stokes will be able to play a full part with the ball for the rest of the match.
“He will be looked at [overnight] to see how he is,” Lewis said. “I don’t know if he will be able to bowl his full allocation of overs. We will see how he pulls up in the morning.”
The injury concern compounded a difficult day for Stokes, who had delivered 14 no-balls in the morning session, but a failure in the no-ball technology meant only the one from which he bowled David Warner — who was on 17 at the time and went on to make 94 — was called by the umpires. Ricky Ponting, the former Australia captain, described it as “pathetic officiating”.
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Last year the ICC decided that the off-field third umpire would monitor front-foot no-balls using the camera technology and alert the on-field officials if a bowler was overstepping as soon as it arose. However, the four cameras that would be used for this have not been working on the first two days of this Test and so it was decided to revert to the old playing conditions, whereby the third umpire only checks the front foot if there is a wicket.
“A fast bowler needs some understanding of where his feet are,” Lewis said. “You can’t see your own feet. That was Ben’s first bowl on this ground for eight years, so he needs some feedback from the umpires to see where his feet are and then [he can] make an adjustment. It would have been nice had the first one been picked up and from then on he would have been behind the line.”
In the searing heat of Brisbane, Ollie Robinson, who finished the day as the pick of England’s bowlers with three for 48 from 18 overs, had to leave the field for “maintenance” after suffering from cramp and did not take the second new ball, which was given to Mark Wood instead.
“My body is doing OK,” the 28-year-old Sussex bowler said after stumps. “I came off for some strapping and maintenance, but I’ll rest up tonight and come back tomorrow.
“I’ve not really played anywhere like this before. The closest place would be Headingley. It’s nice to have bounce as a big guy, and that extra carry. It definitely helped having spent some time in Australia before because it meant I could come over here and learn to bowl with the Kookaburra ball.
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“It came out well today, I was consistent and had a lot of plays and misses. I sort of felt like I was going to get Warner out every over. He left well at times but there were times I thought he was going to nick it.”
