Brisbane: England all-rounder Ben Stokes suffered an injury during the second day’s play in the opening Ashes Test at The Gabba and the tourists’ bowling coach Jon Lewis has said that it was the reason behind the charismatic player not being able to “bowl full pace at the back end of the day”.
“Obviously Ben has hurt himself on the field today (Thursday) so didn’t bowl full pace at the back end of the day. (I) think our medical guys will assess him and see how he is,” Lewis was quoted as saying by sen.com.au.
On a tough day for England Thursday, Australia batter Travis Head’s rollicking unbeaten century in the final session and a 94 by opener David Warner put Australia in a position of ascendancy.
At stumps, Australia were 343/7 in 84 overs leading by 196 runs with Head (112 not out) and Mitchell Starc (10 not out) at the crease.
On Friday, the hosts carried on from where they had left off, as they were finally dismissed for 425, with Head emerging the highest run-getter with 152 runs.
In response, England were 102 for the loss of two wickets in their second innings, still 176 runs behind Australia’s total, with Joe Root and Dawid Malan at the crease in the second session.
Lewis said that barring Stokes there were no other injury concerns for England. “Other than that the guys are okay,” he said.
Stokes had dived to stop a ball racing to the boundary in the first session. He appeared to get up sore and barely bowled after the incident.
