The extent of Ben Stokes' hamstring injury - and its impact on the ODI series against Australia - to become clear in coming days
England sweat on Stokes injury
England allrounder Ben Stokes is in doubt for the upcoming one-day international series against Australia after being diagnosed with a torn hamstring.
Stokes was ruled out of England’s second Test against Pakistan, which began on Friday at Headingley, after scans revealed a tear in his left hamstring.
He was replaced in the XI by debutant left-arm quick Sam Curran.
The severity of Stokes' injury will become known after the ongoing Test against Pakistan, with the allrounder likely to undergo another scan as he continues to be assessed.
Scans have revealed that Ben Stokes has a tear in his left hamstring. He will be reassessed over the next couple of days.— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 1, 2018
He now faces an improbable race against time to be fit for England’s upcoming limited-overs matches, beginning with a one-off ODI against Scotland in Edinburgh on June 10.
The five-match one-day series against Australia begins at The Oval on June 13, followed by a sole T20I encounter against Aaron Finch’s team.
Stokes suffered the injury during fielding practice at Headingley on Wednesday and was limited to shuttle runs with the team physio the next morning despite reporting a slight improvement.
Stokes isn’t the only England player under an injury cloud.
Limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan suffered a fractured finger last Sunday, but is confident of returning in time for the clash against Scotland.
Morgan fractured the ring finger on his right hand while fielding for Middlesex against Somerset and did not play for the World XI in Thursday's charity Twenty20 game against the West Indies at Lord's.
"It's not a huge concern, it's one that hopefully we can manage past about a week when the swelling goes down," Morgan told local media at the time.
"It's not fractured into the joint, which is a really good result. I'll be fine for the one-dayers.
"I will hopefully be back for one more Middlesex game, potentially two. We will wait and see."
Despite the injury clouds hanging over Stokes and Morgan, England last week named a full-strength squad for Australia’s Qantas Tour of England.
In-form star Jos Buttler will be rested from the one-off ODI against Scotland, but will return to take on the Australians.
The England squad is largely unchanged from the 16-player group who defeated Australia 4-1 at the start of the year.
England, who supplanted India at the No.1 ODI team in the ICC’s rankings in April following the annual rankings update, will head into the series full of confidence one year out from the start of a home World Cup in June 2019.
Their settled squad is in stark contrast to Australia, who are without banned batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner, and injured quartet Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Marsh.
Qantas tours of England and Zimbabwe
ODI squad: Tim Paine (c), Aaron Finch (vc), Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Travis Head, Nathan Lyon, Glenn Maxwell, Shaun Marsh, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Andrew Tye
T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Alex Carey (vc), Ashton Agar, Travis Head, Nic Maddinson, Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, D’Arcy Short, Billy Stanlake, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Jack Wildermuth
Qantas Tour of England
June 7: Warm-up v Sussex, Hove (D/N)
June 9: Warm-up v Middlesex, Lord's
June 13: First ODI, The Oval (D/N)
June 16: Second ODI, Cardiff
June 19: Third ODI, Trent Bridge (D/N)
June 21: Fourth ODI, Durham (D/N)
June 24: Fifth ODI, Old Trafford
June 27: Only T20, Edgbaston (D/N)
Qantas T20I tri-series Tour of Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 1: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Monday, July 2: Pakistan vs Australia
Tuesday, July 3: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Wednesday, July 4: Zimbabwe vs Pakistan
Thursday, July 5: Pakistan vs Australia
Friday, July 6: Australia vs Zimbabwe
Sunday, July 8: Final