England captain Ben Stokes promised there will be no “holding back” when he recovers from his latest injury problems, insisting he is ready to keep digging deep for his country.
Stokes was forced to watch the final stages of his side’s 423-run thrashing by New Zealand in Hamilton from the sidelines, having pulled up with hamstring trouble while bowling his 37th over of the third Test.
He did not appear again, handing the captaincy reins to Ollie Pope in the field and deciding not to bat in a lost cause as England were finished off for 234 – barely a third of the way towards a vast target of 658.
England still took the series 2-1, their first success on these shores since 2008, and the last order of business before they depart is a scan for Stokes at a nearby hospital.
Familiar Territory
That is familiar territory for the 33-year-old, who badly tore the same left hamstring in August and also had major knee surgery on his left knee little more than a year ago.
His body may be rebelling after more than a decade of going through the wringer of international cricket, but he will not contemplate the notion of reducing his workload or easing up on the intensity he prides himself on.
“Nah, I ain’t holding back,” he said after the conclusion at Seddon Park.
“I was obviously incredibly disappointed walking off the other day, I was very emotional about the whole thing. But you sleep on it, take the emotion out and realise that every time you walk out on the field as an athlete, you’re putting yourself at risk of injury.
“I worked really hard to get myself in a position to play the role I did in this game and it’s just sod’s law that the first time in a while I feel like I’m young again, something happens.”
Coming back stronger
He continued: “Every setback, I come back stronger. There’s no doubt I’ll be going away from here, working my arse off as I always do and getting myself back to where I was. That’s my job.
“I literally can’t say anything more until I hop in the MRI scanner and wait for the specialist’s report, then we’ll go from there. But we’ve got ages until we meet up as a Test team again.”
Stokes’ previous lay-off saw him miss four consecutive Test matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan, his first absences since taking over two-and-a-half years ago, but there is now a five-month break from the red-ball game.
Head coach Brendon McCullum is prepared to step in if he feels his leading man ever pushes himself too far, but is willing to accept his risk-taking nature as part of his X factor.
“He takes himself to places that other people aren’t prepared to, that’s what makes him great,” McCullum told BBC’s Test Match Special.
Pushing Boundaries
“He pushes boundaries constantly of where he thinks he can take his body. There are times when I’ll probably have to remind him he’s not as young as what he used to be, but I also don’t want to ever take that flair away from him.
“If you try to chisel off any rough edges of those types of mavericks, you end up with a vanilla product and no one wants that. We want Ben Stokes being the maverick that he is.”
England are ready for a much needed red-ball breather after their breakneck 2024, which they end in credit after nine wins and eight defeats from a bumper 17 Tests.
Sour Taste Left
Letting the last outing of the year slip away by such an imposing margin – their fourth biggest defeat by runs in history – may have left a sour taste, but after taking home the newly-inaugurated Crowe-Thorpe Trophy, Stokes reflected on a job well done.
“We hold our hands up, we’re a much better team than we’ve shown this week. But we came here to beat New Zealand and what we set out to achieve, we’ve achieved,” he said.
“It’s obviously disappointing to end the tour and end the top of year with a loss. I’m very, very happy with our 2024. We’ve had a lot of opportunities given to experienced guys who have showed they have what it takes to deliver match-winning moments at the highest level.”
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