ENG vs WI | Broad asked me to stop: Ben Stokes gives a major update on his injury
Flamboyant England all-rounder Ben Stokes guided England to a comprehensive 113-run win over West Indies in Manchester. Stokes was named Man of the Match for his glorious batting as he scored 176 and 78 not out. He also scalped three wickets with the ball.
Stokes looked in discomfort while bowling on Day 5, during the 68th over he felt some pain in the groin and didn't complete his over. After the match, Stokes gave an update of his injury and said he is fine and it was just stiffness and senior pacer Stuart Broad advised him to stop bowling.
"I am fine. Just probably sad to get stiff and when I said to Broady, he asked me to stop. I had the same sort of stiffness 3-4 years back against Pakistan, didn't want to take that risk again," said Ben Stokes in the post-match presentation.
Stokes refuted the claims of England teams overusing him and said the team has found the method of playing dry cricket with the field.
"Absolutely not. I do everything the team asks of me and we have found the method of playing dry cricket with the field. Not only does it give us a wicket, it also keeps the run rate in check because the batsmen can't get away. In the first innings, it just came about. We didn't feel there was any lateral movement off the pitch or anything. Bouncing six balls into the wicket is a plan we use in Tests," he added.
Stokes hailed the efforts of bowlers on Day 4 and also talked about the positive effort of captain Joe Root while making a decision to get him and Buttler open in second innings.
"Both completely different roles, last night and this morning was simple in terms of what we needed to do to get ahead of the game. A lot of credit has to go to the spell the bowlers bowled yesterday - Broad, Woakes, Curran and Bess. There are discussions, but Joe has the final call on when I bowl. He made a positive effort to get Jos and me up the order. Looking at the scoreboard and seeing 300 balls faced was quite strange (laughs). Never thought I'd ever see that," said Stokes
