Cricket: Ben Stokes refuses to slow down despite fresh injury

England captain Ben Stokes is adamant that he will not reduce his workload, despite being sidelined by a yet another hamstring injury during the third Test against New Zealand.

The all-rounder left the field at Seddon Park on Monday and sat out the remainder of the Test, which England lost by 423 runs.

He will undergo scans on Wednesday, with the injury appearing to be a reoccurrence of the one he suffered last month against Pakistan.

“I ain’t holding back,” Stokes said when questioned about his injury, which came off the back of England’s joint-busiest year of red-ball cricket.

“Obviously, I was incredibly disappointed walking off yesterday, very emotional about the whole thing.

“I worked really hard to get myself into position to play the role that I did this game.

“It’s just one of those unfortunate things.

“But nah, I ain’t holding back.

“Every time you walk out to field as an athlete, you’re putting yourself at risk of getting injury.

“Whether you feel great or you don’t feel great.

“I worked my arse off to get to where I was in this game in particularly with my body.

“It’s just sod’s law — the first time in a while I feel like I’m young again, something happens.”

England entered the three-Test series against New Zealand as underdogs at cricket bookmakers, with the home side having just claimed a historic whitewash of India.

However, Stokes’ men thoroughly outplayed the Black Caps across the first two Tests and, despite losing the final match after being -125 favourites at Bovada, won the series 2-1.

“We came here to beat New Zealand,” Stokes said.

“A team who wherever they go in the world are very competitive and knew they were going to be full of confidence after their historic win in India.

“To play the cricket that we did in the first two games was very, very pleasing.

“We came here this week with the same attitude, same mindset, that we always do in the first two games out here.

“We just didn’t play anywhere near our capabilities.

“It’s obviously disappointing to end the tour and the year with a loss.

“But what we came here to achieve, we managed to achieve.

“It’s no mean feat coming to New Zealand and beating them because they’re a very, very strong team in their home conditions.”

Sports news