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Ben Stokes has declared himself fit for England’s crunch World Cup clash against South Africa on Saturday after missing the first three games of the tournament with a hip complaint.
Stokes, who has come out of ODI retirement to try and help his country successfully defend the title they won on home soil in 2019, sat out the nine-wicket defeat to New Zealand, 137-run victory over Bangladesh, and then the 69-run loss to Afghanistan.
But the 32-year-old is now set to return in Mumbai at the weekend, saying he is in a “good place” two days out from the match.
Saturday 21st October 9:00am
Speaking to BBC Radio’s Test Match Special, Stokes said: “It was a frustrating little niggle to get before the tournament but I have worked very hard to get back to where I am and making myself ready to be available for selection.
“We have had a few days off since the last game and first training session here in Mumbai. I’ll give it a good push but, yes, I think everything is pretty good. I am in a good place.”
Stokes: I am just one person in a team sport
England head coach Matthew Mott called Stokes the side’s “spiritual leader” earlier this week and the player’s return would stiffen a middle order that was ripped through by Afghanistan last Sunday.
Stokes played the key innings as England won the 2019 World Cup final at Lord’s and last year’s T20 World Cup final in Melbourne, while his stunning 135 not out at Headingley in 2019 saw his team to a dramatic one-wicket Ashes victory.
Asked about coping with the expectation placed upon him, Stokes said: “I deal with it pretty easy, to be honest, because I know I am one person in a team sport. No one looks to one person in this team to inspire them or anything like that.
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Highlights as England’s World Cup hopes were dealt a major blow following a historic 69-run defeat to Afghanistan
“It is not the case that if I do come in then all of a sudden we are going to do well. It is just one of those things that gets spoken about a lot but I don’t read into too much.
“Everyone that walks out on to that field for England is a match-winner and can do something individually that can win us a game. We just need to tone it down a bit on me coming back in.
‘Everyone is going to lose games – we have to move on’
“We are only three games into a tournament. [We need to] make sure we keep focusing forward. There is still a long way to go.
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England international Kate Cross believes the men’s team have time to turn around their World Cup fortunes
“It was disappointing in the moment [to lose to Afghanistan] but at the end of the day we have lost a game of cricket in a World Cup.
“Everyone is going to lose games and it is one of those things we had to deal with quickly, understand that we didn’t perform well but move on and understand we have a lot more cricket left to play”
Watch England vs South Africa live on Sky Sports Cricket and Sky Sports Main Event from 9am on Saturday (first ball at 9.30am). You can also stream the game with NOW.
Follow the match across skysports.com and the Sky Sports App with a live over-by-over text blog and in-game video clips.
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