Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes has been the centre of attraction ever since his comeback to competitive cricket after six-month-long break due to mental health issue. He garnered even more interests after his lacklustre show in the Ashes 2021-22 opener in Brisbane. The all-rounder scored 5 and 14 runs in the two innings, also bowling as many as 14 no balls – most of them undetected due to technical issues – on Day 2 of the Test. Follow Ashes 2021-22 Live on InsideSport.IN.
Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes ends talk around his fitness with head-crushing bouncer to Joe Root in Adelaide nets, Watch Video
Stokes’ performance has raised a massive question if he has been rushed to international cricket with a break so long and without any practice matches. The 30-year-old also injured his knee while chasing a ball which was racing towards the boundary rope. The New Zealand-born, on a pace-friendly pitch, bowled only 12 overs in the match. He was visibly struggling after hurting his knee and lacked rhythm while sending down the red cherry towards the Australian batters.
However, a lethal bouncer, hitting Joe Root flush on his helmet and flooring him, has brushed off all the speculation around Stokes’ injury. In a video shared by sports journalist Will Macpherson, Stokes can be seen running rapidly before sending down a fiery bouncer. Oohing and aahing follows as soon as the pink-ball hits Root’s helmet.
Ben Stokes hits Joe Root on the head in the Adelaide nets. Box office, always. pic.twitter.com/MBbac4RSsR
— Will Macpherson (@willis_macp) December 14, 2021
Earlier, Ben Stokes had downplayed concerns over his fitness, saying that the knee which had him hobbling at the Gabba was nothing but “an old injury that flares every now and then”.
“People will have seen me rubbing my knee from time to time when I was in the field, but rest assured I’m fine,” Stokes wrote in his column for English newspaper The Mirror.
“It is an old injury that flares up every now and again, but I know how to manage it.
“It just gets a little bit uncomfortable every now and again in and around my cartilage, but it just looks worse than it is by the way I try and get off it as soon as I can.”
After losing the first Test by 9 wickets, England will look to bounce back with a win in the upcoming Day-Night pink-ball Test which starts in Adelaide from December 16.
Ashes 2021-22: Ben Stokes ends talk around his fitness with head-crushing bouncer to Joe Root in Adelaide nets, Watch Video
