England's Ben Stokes unlikely for the second Test

English all-rounder Ben Stokes might not feature in the starting eleven in the next Test against Sri Lanka. Stokes suffered a knee injury during the first Test match on the second day while fielding.

Stokes did not take the field again after he moved to the sidelines following an injured knee. He underwent a long session with the physiotherapist and the doctors. The all-rounder was seen having an ice pack on his knee for the major part of the day during the practice sessions recently. An update about the same is likely to come in a couple of days time.

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England skipper Alastair Cook confirmed that the injury might take time but maintained that it still cannot be predicted whether he will be back or not. He quoted, “For Ben to be off the field is not a good sign and it doesn’t look good for Durham. We don’t know 100 percent. Obviously, he has got something in his knee that doesn’t feel quite right. It doesn’t look good for Durham at this stage but you just never know.”

Meanwhile, speculations are being made that Chris Woakes might play in the second Test if Ben Stokes fails to recover in time. Former English player and commentator tweeted the same saying Chris Woakes to be the likely replacement for Stokes.

Interestingly, Stokes has not missed a single match for the England team since he returned from a hand injury in 2014. He had fractured his hand when he punched the dressing room locker during England’s tour of West Indies back in 2014. He had to subsequently miss out on the ICC World T20 in 2014 held in Bangladesh. Since then, this is the first injury that the all-rounder has picked up.

England won the first Test handsomely by thoroughly outplaying the visitors and handling them an innings defeat. The second Test kicks off on May 27 at Durham.