ADELAIDE: England all-rounder Ben Stokes has said that he was confident he would be fit to bowl in the second Ashes Test here after jarring his knee while fielding during the opening Test at The Gabba, which the hosts Australia won by nine wickets.
The 30-year-old Stokes had emerged as the biggest concern for the tourists after he was seen tending to his knee time and again and seemed in obvious discomfort.
With spinner Jack Leach bleeding runs in the first Test, Stokes gives England the fourth seamer option besides being a handy batter in the middle order.
"People will have seen me rubbing my knee from time to time when I was in the field, but rest assured I'm fine," he wrote in his column for the Mirror.
"It is an old injury that flares up every now and again, but I know how to manage it. It just gets a little bit uncomfortable every now and again in and around my cartilage. But it just looks worse than it is by the way I try and get off it as soon as I can," wrote Stokes.
"We have a good track record of bouncing back pretty well after a defeat early in a series. We came back against South Africa to win, we came back against the West Indies last year to win, so we've done it before and we can do it again," added Stokes.
On Tuesday, Stokes bowled full tilt at the nets and England skipper Joe Root was lucky to survive a bouncer from the all-rounder, a video of which has gone viral.
"No surprises that Joe Root is the last to leave the nets at England training. Copped a knock to the helmet off Ben Stokes a bit earlier but didn't appear affected. He's in nice touch #Ashes," a fan tweeted. IANS
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