Stokes confirms availability for 2nd Test vs NZ despite injury scare

Christchurch, Dec 1 (IANS) England captain Ben Stokes said he would be available to play in the the second Test against New Zealand despite suffering an injury scare during their eight-wicket win in the first Test at Hagley Oval on Sunday.
Stokes had pulled up while bowling to Tim Southee and gave the ball to Gus Atkinson to finish the over. He didn’t bowl after that, though choosing to remain on the field, as England chased down 104 to win the game on day four.
“It has been a pretty heavy week this week – a lot of time in the field, I bowled 20 overs and spent time out on the middle with the bat as well. I hurt my back diving for a ball so it was management more than anything else.
“Where we were in the game, I didn’t feel it necessary to eke out any more balls. I think the body is going to be good for this outing and I am raring to go for Wellington,” said Stokes after the match ended.
In the match where Stokes made a fine 80 in second innings, he bowled 19.3 overs overall. He also talked about being in partnerships with Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson in helping England make 499 in their first innings.
“It was good. With Gus and Carsey coming in and batting like that, I was giving them the strike and thinking ‘I should be doing that role!’ We found ourselves in a tricky place and I just tried to build a partnership with Brooky to make sure we got up to a good total,” he said.
Brook made a blazing 171 and had fortune on his side due to being dropped five times by New Zealand. “When the opposition are dropping catches left, right and centre you do want to go on and make that big score.
“Brooky is an incredible player, an incredible talent. To have someone with his ability in our middle order is outstanding. He is constantly looking to put the pressure on the bowlers and is going from strength to strength,” Stokes added.
Stokes also lavished praise on pacer Brydon Carse, who bagged a 10-wicket match haul, and became the first England bowler to bag ten wickets in an overseas Test match after Monty Panesar (2012).
“I also thought our bowlers were pretty relentless, so it was a very good start. I have grown up with Brydon (Carse) in our Durham days and known his potential and talent so to see him make such an impact is amazing. He is a workhorse and will charge in all day regardless of whether the conditions are in his favour or not.”
With New Zealand now 1-0 behind in the series, captain Tom Latham admitted they need to get better at their catching side of things. “To have them 70-4 with our tails up (in England’s first innings), if we take some catches – certainly myself included – things might have been slightly different.
“Even though the result of the game does look quite big, there are small margins in a game of cricket, and unfortunately they didn’t quite fall the right way. I don’t think it’s something that requires (extra) work.
“We certainly put the work in behind the scenes, training days and all that, and it hasn’t been a continuous thing that’s been happening. It’s just one of those things – sometimes when one goes down, they all keep falling. We like to stay nice and level and try not to overemphasise things. We know we need to be better and we’ll hopefully do that in Wellington,” Latham said.
–IANS
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