Ben Stokes ruled out of England’s first Test vs Pakistan; Brydon Carse set for debut

New Delhi, Oct 5 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) Ben Stokes has been ruled out of playing England’s first Test against Pakistan, starting on October 7 in Multan, due to his ongoing recovery from a torn hamstring. Stokes sustained the hamstring injury two months ago while playing in the Hundred, leading to him missing England’s 2-1 series win over Sri Lanka. Despite training with the team in Multan, Stokes won’t play the first Test, meaning that stand-in skipper Ollie Pope will continue to lead the side. “I tried my hardest to try and get myself fit for this first game but we’ve taken the call to miss this one. I’ve not quite managed to get game-ready. We got to a certain point, but just looking at the bigger picture around what we’ve got coming up and actually physically where I’m at with my rehab, I’m not quite ready to play,” said Stokes to reporters. Asked if he would be fit to play second Test at Multan starting on October 15, Stokes was non-committal. “Not sure. I’ve pushed myself incredibly hard and worked really hard with the medical team to get to where I’m at now. I think I’m further ahead than what we expected. I’ll be working just as hard over the next 10 days to try to get myself fit for the second Test.” Pacer Brydon Carse will make his Test debut, and will become England’s sixth Test debutant of this year, while seam-bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes is all set to play his first game in the longest format in Asia since 2016. Left-arm spinner Jack Leach makes a return to the playing eleven for the first time since the Test against India at Hyderabad in January and will handle spin-bowling department alongside off-spinner Shoaib Bashir. Opener Zak Crawley is also back after fully recovering from a broken finger sustained during the 3-0 series win over the West Indies, while pacer Gus Atkinson recovered from the thigh niggle and be fit to play his first overseas Test match. England playing XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Jack Leach, and Shoaib Bashir —