Stokes declares himself fit for the 5th Test, says ‘pain is an emotion’ while admitting the need for fresh legs.
‘Pain is just an emotion’ – Stokes likely to play Oval Test.
As the England team laboured through 143 overs in India’s second innings at Old Trafford, captain Ben Stokes remarked to his team that “pain is just an emotion.” However, for the fifth and final Test match at The Oval, he has made hints that England might change up their bowling attack.
Stokes groaned and grabbed his right shoulder repeatedly during his 11 overs on Sunday, including eight consecutive overs. After the teams shook hands during a draw, he disclosed that his biceps tendon was painful. He said that although his physical condition had “been better,” it was “very unlikely” that he wouldn’t be able to play in Thursday’s fifth Test.
Stokes withdrew injured while batting on Friday after capturing his first five-wicket haul in eight years in India’s opening innings, but he returned that evening and scored his maiden Test century in two years the next day. Despite not bowling at all on Saturday, he set a personal record of 140 in this series after his spells on Sunday.
“It’s been a pretty big workload so far in the series,” he said. “I had a big week last week at Lord’s, with time spent out in the middle with bat in hand and obviously overs bowled, and then same again this week. I said it a few times to the guys out there: ‘pain is just an emotion.’ It’s just one of those things.
“It is actually my bicep tendon. It obviously had quite a lot of workload through it, just been creeping around. But yeah, [I spent] a lot of time out in the middle doing my job as an allrounder this week and [it] just got a little bit flared up… It didn’t get any worse throughout the day, just stayed the same, so that’s why I kept on going.”