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England received a major blow after their Test captain Ben Stokes once again sustained a hamstring injury during the ongoing Test match against New Zealand.
England Cricket took to X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed that Stokes ended up injuring his hamstring during the third day of the final match of the Test series. Stokes was bowling to New Zealand youngster Rachin Ravindra at Seddon Park when he immediately held his hamstring tightly and left the field for treatment. The seasoned all-rounder has been plagued with hamstring injuries throughout the year. He suffered a hamstring injury during The Hundred in August. The injury ruled him out of the opening Test of the three-match series against Pakistan in Multan in October. The nature of the injury still remains unknown, and it is yet to be seen if Stokes will come in to bat for England in the second innings. If he remains unavailable for batting, then the duration of his absence also remains unknown. Stokes bowled 12.2 overs, conceded 52 runs at an economy of 4.20 and managed to pick up two scalps. Will Young and William O'Rourke were his two victims in the second innings. In the first innings, he bowled 24 overs, pulled off six maidens and conceded 91 runs at an economy of 3.80. Matt Henry was his sole scalp in the first innings. With Stokes out of action, New Zealand managed to put a total of 453 on the board. With a 204-run lead from the first innings, the Kiwis handed a whopping 658-run target to the visitors. While pursuing the mounting task, England lost both openers Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett early in the innings. Tim Southee, who is playing his farewell Test, broke the deadlock by casting Duckett (4), who showed his stumps to the seasoned pacer. Matt Henry followed it up by pinning Crawley (5) in front of the stumps. At the end of Day 3, England was reduced to 18/2 with still 640 runs away from victory. (ANI)
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