England’s charismatic all-rounder Ben Stokes hasn’t played a single game yet in the ongoing ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, but he has certainly lifted his team’s crushed morale after their 69-run defeat to Afghanistan in Delhi on October 15.
Stokes had encouraged his England teammates to play more freely in his speech after their embarrassing loss to Afghanistan in their last match at the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2023.
Coming back to his fitness, the England star is likely to make his first appearance at the CWC 2023 against South Africa. Notably, Stokes missed England's first three World Cup 2023 games due to a hip injury.
England’s head coach, Matthew Mott, is hoping that Stokes will be fully recovered for the team’s next World Cup 2023 match against South Africa, which will be played in Mumbai on October 21.
As reported by ANI, Mott said, “We've obviously been relatively conservative with him, but the medical staff were always confident that South Africa was a game we could target. I haven't had a report on him in the last 24 hours, but before that, he was on target.”
He added, “So, fingers crossed, he can tick off all the things that need to be ticked off and he comes back into that side. He's like the spiritual leader of the group in many ways, and he certainly spoke really well after the game the other day, and spoke about that need to really assert ourselves.”
England managed to win only one game against Bangladesh and suffered defeats against New Zealand and Afghanistan. Now, they have to win at least five matches to make it to the top four of the CWC 2023.
(With ANI Inputs)
