Ben Stokes might not be able to bowl in the third and final Test of the ongoing series against West Indies, starting Friday (July 24) in Manchester, said England captain Joe Root in an important news regarding his premier all-rounder. 

Stokes, struggling with stiffness, had pulled out of an over late in the second innings of the last match, where his heroics with both bat and ball were key to England's series-levelling victory. 

Read Also: ‘Stokes on track to become England’s best all-rounder ever’, reckons Anderson

His quadriceps injury will be assessed before the start of play. But the team management may just play him solely as a batsman, which will then reflect in the selection of the bowling attack for the decider. 

"He (Stokes) spent much of the last test on the field, but it does take a lot to keep him down and out of the action," said Root in a virtual conference on the eve of the all-important match. 

"We’ll see how he is in the morning but if you look at our squad we’ve got a lot of brilliant options to choose from. Whatever combination we go with is obviously capable of taking 20 wickets."

In another news, Root said pacer Jofra Archer is ready to step on the field again, having missed the last match due to his breach of the bio-secure protocols in place for this series in wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Archer was dropped, reportedly for going back home after the first game in Southampton, and was fined as well as asked to go into a five-day self-isolation period, with it made necessary that he must test negative twice of Coronavirus contraction before he could rejoin the squad. 

The pacer faced widespread criticism for what many said was his carelessness. He revealed he was even subject of racial abuse over it, which Root said is "disgusting", also informing, however, that he is fine now and made a good return to training. 

"He’s got his smile back and bowled speed and line in some spicy nets over the last two days, which wasn’t much fun for our batters," said Root. "But it was disgusting, actually, to see some of the abuse he’s had to put up with over the last week."

"As a squad, we’ve tried to get around him and make sure he knows we are all there for him because no one should have to deal with that. It’s deeply disappointing and there’s no other word than disgusting," the skipper concluded. 

(Inputs from Reuters)