The Brits have announced their squad for the upcoming third Test of the five-match Test series against India and it seems that the squad will remain unchanged.
Cricket news: The squad remains unchanged and remains same as that of Lord’s
This means that all-rounder Ben Stokes will likely to miss the third Test even if he is not found guilty of affray whose hearing is going on at Bristol Crown Court this week.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has released a statement saying that assessment will be made on the availability of Stokes once the trial is concluded.
The national selectors of England met on August 13 after England demolished India and won the second Test at Lord’s in a comprehensive way by an innings and 159 runs.
Stokes was not available for the second Test because of the hearing about the affray which took place in Bristol last September.
However Stokes has been a key member of the England squad as his performance with the ball (4 for 40) in the second innings won the match for England at Edgbaston.
After the closing speeches of the hearing are done on Monday, the jury might go out on Monday evening with a view of giving a verdict.
The final decision will however come within a week. After the verdict is given and the trail is finished, the Cricket Discipline Commission which is independent of the ECB, will carry out their own hearing on Ben Stokes and Alex Hales, who was also present that night at Bristol.
This means that further investigation will take more time and indirectly will delay Stokes’ return even if he is found not guilty.
However the absence of Stokes did not hurt the Brits as his replacement Chris Woakes stepped up as an all-rounder and produced a match winning performance.
He scored a maiden unbeaten Test century as he scored 137 not out and with the ball he had figures of 4 for 43 and was rightly given the Man-of-the-Match award. The third Test will begin from August 18 at Trent Bridge in Nottingham.
Squad: Joe Root (c), Moeen Ali, Jimmy Anderson, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Ollie Pope, Jamie Porter, Adil Rashid, Chris Woakes