England captain Ben Stokes expressed his frustration after another hamstring injury. Stokes got injured on Day 3 of the third Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park, Hamilton. The all-rounder left the field distraught and did not come out to bat on Day 4 as the tourists were set a target of 648 as he did not want to aggravate the injury.
Stokes was bowling his 37th over of the Test when he got injured and left the field. Immediately after the injury, negative thoughts creeped in Stokes' mind as he had a knee surgery earlier this year as well.
“I worked my ar** off to get to where I was in this game, in particular, with my body," he said. “It’s just sod’s law that the first time in a while when I feel like I’m young again, something happens. Obviously, incredibly disappointed walking off yesterday, very emotional about the whole thing."
Stokes' mental state improved a day after as he realised that England don't play a Test for next five months. Their next clash is a four-day one-off match against Zimbabwe followed by a five-Test series at home against India.
Stokes not worried about workload
The pacer is not looking to cut down his overs and said that the risk of injury is always there.
“When you take the emotion out of it, you realise that when you’re walking out there, you’re always putting yourself at risk of an injury," he said.
“I worked really hard to get myself into position to play the role that I did this game, and it’s just one of those unfortunate things. So no, I ain’t holding back."
England win series 2-1
Despite suffering their biggest loss by runs (423), England won the Crowe-Thorpe Trophy 2024 2-1. They finished sixth on the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 table. with a win percentage of 43.18. They won 11 out of 22 Tests in the cycle.
