England Pull Chris Woakes Out Of The Hundred After Ben Stokes' Injury Ahead Of ENG vs SL Tests

Chris Woakes has been pulled out of the ongoing The Hundred men's competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) after Ben Stokes suffered an injury on August 11.

Chris Woakes gets pulled out of The Hundred men's competion by the ECB after Ben Stokes suffers an injury.

Source : PTI

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have decided to withdraw one of their best bowling all-rounders Chris Woakes from the ongoing Men's Hundred competition after rising concerns of an injury to their Test skipper Ben Stokes, ahead of England’s upcoming three-match Test series against Sri Lanka, set to begin on August 21.

Woakes was playing trade for Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred, but the team announced on Monday that the star all-rounder has been ruled out for the rest of the season. Woakes, 35, was set to feature in the remaining two group-stage matches for Phoenix against Trent Rockets on August 12 and Manchester Originals on August 15.

Setback For England As Ben Stokes Suffer Injury Ahead Of ENG vs SL Tests

In what came as a big setback earlier for England, Ben Stokes sustained a left hamstring while playing for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals on August 11. The injury occurred when he sprinted for a run and was seen grimacing and clutching his left hamstring. Stokes had to leave the field immediately.

After the match, Stokes was seen using crutches to walk during the post-match customary handshake. To make matters worse for England for the Sri Lanka tests, they will also be without opening batter Zak Crawley, who has been ruled out of the squad due to a fractured finger.

Notably, should Stokes find himself out of the Sri Lanka tests, Ollie Pope is the likely candidate for captaincy.

The first England vs Sri Lanka Test will be played in Manchester, from 21 to 25 August.

England squad for Sri Lanka Tests: Ben Stokes (c), Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jordan Cox, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone

Sri Lanka squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Nishan Madushka, Pathum Nissanka, Kusal Mendis (vc), Angelo Mathews, Dinesh Chandimal, Kamindu Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara, Nisala Tharaka, Prabath Jayasuriya, Ramesh Mendis, Jeffrey Vandersay, Milan Rathnayake