Ben Stokes fit for second New Zealand Test despite injury scare

Christchurch: England captain Ben Stokes said he would be fit for the second Test against New Zealand, despite an injury scare during their eight-wicket first Test win on Sunday.

Stokes was bowling to Tim Southee at Hagley Oval in Christchurch when he pulled up and tossed the ball to Gus Atkinson to finish his over.

Stokes stayed on the field and said after his side’s eight-wicket win that stopping to bowling had been a precautionary measure and he would play in the second Test.

“I twinged my back diving for a catch on day one and there’s a bit of stiffness,” Stokes said after England easily chased 104 to beat New Zealand on the fourth day.

“Where we were in the game it was ‘I don’t really need to do this and put myself at risk’.

“So yeah, it was more for caution than anything else and I’ll be fine for Wellington.”

Stokes bowled four overs at the start of Sunday’s fourth day before stopping after three balls of his next over, ending with figures of 0-30 off 6.3 overs in the innings.

He took 1-59 off 13 overs in the first innings and his match total of 19.3 overs were the most deliveries the injury-prone Stokes had sent down in a Test since playing in Pakistan in December 2022.

Atkinson dismissed Southee two overs later, New Zealand were bowled out for 254 and England blasted the 104 runs they needed for victory in just 12.4 overs after lunch.

Defeated New Zealand captain Tom Latham insisted Sunday his side did not need extra fielding practice, despite dropping eight catches in the first Test.

Latham dropped three chances himself as the game slipped through the hosts’ fingers, with the skipper describing the errors as “unfortunate” as they allowed Harry Brook to star with 171 as England took a crucial lead of 151 on first innings.

Brook, Ben Stokes, Ben Duckett and Brydon Carse were all dropped and then added a combined 231 runs after their reprieves.

“To take some catches, myself included, things might have looked slightly different,” Latham said after his New Zealand side were brought crashing down to earth after the euphoria of their recent historic 3-0 series win in India.

“Even though the result of the game does look quite big there are small margins in the game of cricket and unfortunately it did not fall right.”

Latham said there was no need for New Zealand to take special steps to rectify their fielding issues before the second Test begins in Wellington on Friday.

“I don’t think that’s something that requires work,” he said.

“We try not to over-emphasise things. We know we need to be better and we’ll hopefully do that in Wellington.”

The second Test starts in Wellington on Friday. The third and final Test is in Hamilton, beginning December 14.