England seamer Chris Woakes walked off the field injured on Day 1 of the final Test match against India at The Oval. Woakes, in the final session of the day, left the field grimacing in pain after injuring his left shoulder while chasing a boundary.
The incident occurred on the fifth ball of the 57th over when Karun Nair drove Jamie Overton down the ground. Woakes sprinted to stop the ball, successfully preventing a boundary as Nair ran three, but landed awkwardly and immediately clutched his shoulder before walking off.
England now find themselves in the same position as the Indian team, who were sweating over Rishabh Pant’s fitness in the 3rd and 4th match of this series, after injuring his thumb and toe respectively.
Pant, however, braved his injury to come out and bat, after he was allowed a wicketkeeping replacement in the form of Dhruv Jurel. Stokes on the other hand is unlikely to get an injury replacement in case he does not come out to bowl once again in the Test match.
According to the laws, a team can only substitute a player in case of a concussion. And hence it is unlikely that England will be permitted to bring on a substitute who can bowl in this Test match.
England seamer Gus Atkinson spoke briefly on the matter and said that things do not look good with Stokes at the moment, who might have dislocated his shoulder.
“I don’t know too much, but it doesn’t look great. It’s the last game of the series, and it’s always a big shame when anyone gets injured. I’m hoping it’s not too serious, and whatever it is, he’ll have everyone’s full support,” Atkinson said in the press conference after Day 1’s play.
Stokes vs Gambhir: Injury Replacement Debate
The debate on injury replacement in Test cricket has already taken place in this series. India head coach Gautam Gambhir and England captain Ben Stokes were on polar opposites on the matter. While Gambhir wanted the laws to allow replacements for external injuries, Stokes said that several teams would use loopholes and misuse the law.
“…if there’s an external injury or serious concern, I fully support having a substitute. Especially in a series like this, if someone’s visibly injured, there’s nothing wrong with making a change. In a long series like this, you can’t be forced to play with just ten players,” Gambhir had argued after the 4th Test match in Manchester.
Stokes, however, was not a fan and called out the suggestion.
“I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that there’s a conversation around an injury replacement,” Stokes said. “I think that there would just be too many loopholes for teams to be able to go through. You pick your 11 for a game; injuries are part of the game. I completely understand the concussion replacement: player welfare, [and] player safety. But I think the conversation should just honestly stop around injury replacements because if you stick me in an MRI scanner, I could get someone else in straightaway,” Stokes said in the post-match press conference.
“If you stick anyone else with an MRI scanner, a bowler is going to show, ‘Oh yeah, you’ve got a bit of inflammation around your knee. Oh sweet, we can get another fresh bowler in.’ I just think that conversation should be shut down and stopped,” he added.
For now, England sweat over Woakes’ injury as they had already rested four of their players for the final Test match. The team does not have Ben Stokes, Jofra Archer, Brydon Carse and Liam Dawson, who were rested from this game.
In case Woakes does not return, England will be left with Gus Atkinson, Josh Tongue, Jamie Overton and spinner Jacob Bethell.
– Ends
