England captain Ben Stokes confident of Ashes fitness despite shoulder injury
Stokes was seen clutching his right shoulder during the fourth innings of last week's draw at Old Trafford but still sent down 11 overs in clear discomfort.
He was initially hopeful about lining up in Thursday's fifth Test at the Kia Oval, but scans revealed a grade three tear – the most severe category – meaning he now faces six to 10 weeks of rehabilitation.
And while he will play nothing more than a cheerleading role in the final match a series where he has emerged as the key performer, the medical advice suggests he is confident of being back in time for what has been billed as a legacy-defining trip to Australia.
The Ashes begins in Perth on November 21, with England flying out a fortnight earlier, and he was quick to assure fans he intended to be there.
Stokes opted to take the captain's pre-match press conference in place of deputy Ollie Pope, who will lead the team on home turf with the side 2-1 ahead, and was asked directly if he expected to be ready.
'Yeah. It's six or seven weeks probably,' he said, taking an optimistic view of the prognosis.
'I'll start rehabbing now and obviously focus on what we've got coming up in the winter. It's a decent tear of one of the muscles I can't pronounce. I woke up the morning after the game and it was pretty sore so I wasn't surprised that the scan showed something.
'There was obviously a bit of emotion going in when you find out what you've done. I think you need time chatting with the medical team, Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum), and then it was just 20 minutes to myself out there in the morning, just to really be clear around the decision that we made.
'It is one of those where you're weighing up the risk-reward and the risk was way too high for damaging this any further than it currently is. I wouldn't expect to put any one of my players at risk with an injury like this. The series has taken a big toll.'
Stokes knows the ropes better than most when it comes to arduous recovery periods. The 34-year-old underwent surgery on a longstanding knee issue in late 2023 and suffered two serious hamstring tears last year.
He bounced back better than ever this summer, racking up 140 overs with the ball and facing almost 600 deliveries, but may have ultimately pushed himself beyond his body's capacity.
Yet he has no regrets about taking such a punishing workload.
'Not at all. When I'm out on the field I play to win and give everything I possibly can,' he said.
'If I feel there's a moment in a game where I need to put everything I'm feeling aside, I'll do that because that's how much this team means to me, how much playing for England means to me, how much winning means to me.
'Being a professional sportsman, injuries are part of this game and I can't do anything about that.'
Stokes' absence means a first Test appearance of the year for rising star Jacob Bethell, who turned heads in New Zealand in December but has been restricted to 12th man duties since.
That is one of four changes to the England XI, with Liam Dawson standing down one match into his comeback and pace pair Brydon Carse and Jofra Archer rested.
In come three fresh quicks, Gus Atkinson and Jamie Overton making their first appearances of the series at their Surrey home and Josh Tongue back after sitting out the last two games.
'We've got a team of 11 match winners. One person doesn't win you a game and just because I am playing or I'm not playing doesn't mean we're going to win or lose,' said Stokes.
'We've have seen people put in some pretty special individual performances and it's another opportunity for another 11 people to hopefully put their hand up and win a game for England.'
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