Joe Root provides Ben Stokes injury update and guards against pink ball miracle

Joe Root has issued a cautiously optimistic update on the fitness of Ben Stokes ahead of the second Ashes Test against Australia.

The tourists will be looking to bounce back from their heavy nine-wicket defeat in Brisbane last week and will be hopeful that the day/night clash in Adelaide and the pink ball, which is expected to swing under the floodlights, will offer them a route back into the five-match series.

Stokes, meanwhile, made his eagerly anticipated comeback last week after a five month absence and unsurprisingly lacked match fitness and any sort of rhythm with his bowling.

Root, of course, retains the option of recalling his two most experienced bowlers in Stuart Broad and James Anderson, both of whom were held back and didn’t feature in the series opener with the Adelaide Test in mind, but Root is hopeful that Stokes will be in contention to feature.

He said: ‘We will find out about Ben over the next couple of days. He obviously had a bit of a jar in his knee in the last game.

‘Hopefully that is something he’s shaken off now and he can get back to full intensity but all options are on the table. We will have to manage that and see where we are at.

‘We obviously have big decisions to make. With that experience in your squad it’s obviously exciting, plenty of good options to choose from.’

On the assumption that Broad and Anderson can come back into the frame and reverse the momentum of the series on their own, meanwhile, Root added: ‘For us it’s about not falling into the trap of thinking it’s going to hoop round corners for five days.

‘There will be periods in this game where that takes a more prestigious role but one thing from our point of view is not overthinking that part of it.

‘It is about understanding the different challenges that a pink ball Test at this ground takes and having plenty of options to still find ways of taking 20 wickets. There will be two sessions where the sun can be out and it might not do as much.

‘Also as a batting group, we need to be managing those different phases and finding ways to get through.’

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