Ben Stokes confirms knee ‘surgery’ after the World Cup

Ben Stokes, ahead of the clash against Australia, confirmed that he will have knee surgery after the 2023 ODI World Cup. The all-rounder hopes to be fit in time before the start of the away series against India later next year. 

Stokes has been hampered with knee issues ever since the start of 2023, with him missing several Indian Premier League (IPL) games for his franchise, Chennai Super Kings. The all-rounder was also seen struggling during the 2023 Ashes tour, where he wasn’t involved in a lot of bowling after the first few Tests. 

“Yeah, I'll be fine for the Test Series in India. But yeah, I am having surgery after the World Cup,” said Stokes in the pre-match press conference. 

"I am having surgery after the World Cup… There was a lot of time put into deciding when to get it done. The India Test series, which we start at the end of January, I should be fine to go by then,” he had to add. 

There was another controversy that surrounded Stokes with his use of an inhaler, but the all-rounder was quick to answer that it could be because of  "exercise-induced asthma" after England’s outing in Mumbai and, later, Bangalore. 

"Sometimes it happens when you go to a new city in India where the air is slightly different," he said. "That could be a reason for it: Bangalore, when we actually turned up, just felt a lot fresher. Doing the running that I was doing [shuttle runs on the outfield] does bring it on a lot easier than normal."

England are currently placed tenth in a ten-team ODI World Cup. Stokes minced no words, stating that England were ‘crap’ in this tournament. 

“No, I think the problem is that we've been crap. To be honest with you, we've been crap. Everything we've tried throughout this World Cup, through trying to put pressure back onto the opposition in a way in which we know, or trying to soak up the pressure in a different way, which we know we've done before and been successful with, it's just not worked,” Stokes said. 

“Every opportunity that we've had in front of us where we feel like we can take control of the game, the opposition's managed to get it back towards them. And we've just not been able to put a full game together, or even got close to putting a full game together except against Bangladesh.

“We know that as individuals and as a team, I think that's where it is as a team, we've been nowhere near good enough to be able to compete in a World Cup, which has been incredibly disappointing because we know we're so, so much better than what we've shown out here. And not having an answer and being able to understand as to why it's gone wrong is very simple. That's the answer,” he added.

But despite that, Stokes was adamant that the Three Lions would walk out to defend their pride, starting with the clash against their arch-rivals, Australia, on Saturday (November 4). 

“But we know these last three games, for us, we've got a lot to play for. I think the biggest thing that we've got to play for is obviously the pride of what it is to put the three lines on your chest, walking out onto the field every time is a very special occasion and something that we value very highly,” he added.