Will Ben Stokes Bowl In First Ashes Test? Check Out England Captain's Pre-Match Statement

Ashes 2023: Ben Stokes will lead England in the five-match Test series beginning tomorrow (June 16).

England captain Ben Stokes smiles as a picture of him celebrating the wicket of Virat Kohli in 2018 is seen on the wall in the background during the press conference during England nets ahead of the Ashes Test Match against Australia at Edgbaston on June 15, 2023 in Birmingham, England.

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While there has been a lot of speculation over the fitness of England captain Ben Stokes and whether he will be fit enough to contribute with the ball in hand in the first of the five-match Ashes series beginning on June 16 at the Edgbaston in Birmingham, the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) star has himself ended all suspensed ahead of the match. In a pre-match press-conference, Stokes spoke about his fitness, having last rolled his arms over in a competitive match on April 3. In a first-class match, his bowling gap is even longer, having last bowled in England's match against New Zealand in Wellington in February.

"The last three days have been really good for my confidence," Stokes said while addressing the media.

"I've bowled every day so far and been able to run in with more intensity day by day. I've got myself in a real good place to be able to bowl," he added.

After the last Test in which he bowled, he had said that he has a fitness issue but couldn't disclose the details of it publicly. He even took a cortisone injection before he came to India to ply his trade for CSK in the Indian Premier League (IPL). However, not much was conveyed of his fitness issues from the franchise as well.

Even though he is likely to bowl in the series opener, the 32-year-old did indicate that bowling in each of the five Test matches could be difficult, given the cramped schedule. "David Saker has come in and mentioned something to me last week in Scotland, saying, 'If you're still bowling by the fourth or fifth Test, we've done something right," he said.

"I definitely feel in a better place than I did in Wellington and even before that. Obviously every time I am out on the field, that [bowling an important spell] is what I want to do, but my body was stopping me from doing that," he stated.

"What I have done is put myself in a place where I feel a lot more capable of being able to do that. I am not going to speak too soon because who knows where I could be in two weeks' time? But hopefully I don't have to worry about that - I will worry about it when it does happen," he further said.