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England captain Ben Stokes said Saturday he will miss the first Test against Pakistan starting next week, after failing to recover from a hamstring injury. The 33-year-old Stokes has been out since the start of August with a hamstring tear suffered during The Hundred, missing his team’s 2-1 home Test series win against Sri Lanka last month. Top-order batter Ollie Pope, who led the side against Sri Lanka, will stand in again for the first of three matches starting in the central city of Multan on Monday.

“I tried my hardest to get myself fit for this game,” Stokes told reporters. “But have taken the call to miss this one because I’ve not quite managed to get game ready.”

All-rounder Stokes was at team practice on Friday and Saturday, batting in the nets and bowling a few deliveries with a short start.

But the skipper said he was “not sure” he would participate in the second Test — also in Multan and slated for October 15.

“I’ve pushed myself incredibly hard and worked really hard with the medical team to get to where I’m at now,” he said.

“I think I’m further ahead than what we expected. I’ll be working just as hard over the next ten days to try to get myself fit for the second Test.”

Late last month the England and Wales Cricket Board said Stokes had been “on track” to play against Pakistan.

“There is a lot that has to go into my rehab programme,” he said. “It’s always frustrating to miss out.”

With Stokes out, England announced their eleven for the first Test, giving pace bowler Brydon Carse his debut in the longer format.

The tourists will enter the Test with three pacers in Carse, Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes, alongside the spin duo of Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir.

Opener Zak Crawley also returns to the squad after missing the Sri Lanka series with a fractured finger.

England XI: Ollie Pope (captain), Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jack Leach, Joe Root, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes

Former England cricket team skipper Michael Vaughan was extremely critical of the Ollie Pope-led side after their stunning loss against Sri Lanka in the third Test match on Monday. England were completely outplayed by an in-form Sri Lanka side that won their first Test match on English soil in more than 10 years. Vaughan went on to say that England disrespected Test cricket and Sri Lanka with how they decided to approach the match. He further said that England did not go with their usual Bazball style of play after winning the first two Tests of the series and Sri Lanka took advantage of the lapse.

“I felt that they disrespected Test cricket and disrespected Sri Lanka in the third Test by being over-aggressive with both bat and in their field placings,” Vaughan wrote in his column for The Telegraph.

“England have made a bit of a habit of becoming a bit complacent after a good period, I think of the start of the Ashes, or earlier this year in Rajkot and I hope it serves as a wake-up call for the tougher Tests that lie in wait in 2025,” he added.

Vaughan also added that this is not the kind of cricket that will help England win matches against tough oppositions like Australia and India.

“There is no way they will get away with playing like this against India or Australia,” Vaughan said.

Pathum Nissanka‘s superb unbeaten century guided Sri Lanka to an ultimately commanding eight-wicket win at The Oval on Monday as they ended a decade-long wait for a Test-match victory in England.

Sri Lanka, set a target of 219, and reached that total for the loss of two wickets before lunch on the fourth day, with Nissanka 127 not out and Angelo Mathews 32 not out in an unbroken stand of 111.

Victory gave Sri Lanka just a fourth Test win in England and first since a 100-run success at Headingley back in 2014.

England, however, took this three-match series 2-1 after wins at Old Trafford (five wickets) and Lord’s (190 runs).

But defeat meant England, who whitewashed the West Indies 3-0 earlier in the season, failed to achieve a first home campaign clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan oversaw seven successive wins.

(With AFP inputs)

It was a special Friday for Ollie Pope. He had managed a mere 30 runs in four previous innings since succeeding the injured Ben Stokes as England skipper at the start of the series against Sri Lanka. But he returned to form in style Ollie Pope returned to form on his Oval home ground with a first hundred as England captain on Friday’s opening day of the third Test against Sri Lanka. But when bad light ended play for the day Pope was a run-a-ball 103 not out, with England well-placed on 221-3.

It was Pope’s seventh seventh century in Test cricket. Interestingly, each of his first seven centuries came against different opponents – a first in the 147-year history of Test cricket.

Sri Lanka, already 2-0 down in this three-match series, failed to make the most of overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch after captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss.

And England should arguably have had another century-maker on Friday, with opener Ben Duckett, not for the first time, giving his wicket away after making 86. 

Duckett praised his skipper for ignoring the comments from the likes of former England captain Michael Vaughan, who questioned whether Pope could cope with the competing demands of leadership and batting at No 3.  

“It shouldn’t be the case but there has been quite a lot of noise around Popey in the last couple of weeks,” Duckett told reporters after stumps.

“To block that out and score an incredible hundred was so good,” he added following Pope’s 12th first-class hundred on his Surrey home ground.

A rare bright spot for struggling Sri Lanka was the dismissal of Joe Root for 13 shortly before tea.

Root was fresh from two hundreds in a 190-run win at Lord’s where he set a new England record of 34 Test centuries.  

England, who swept the West Indies 3-0 earlier this season, are chasing their first home Test campaign clean sweep since 2004, when Vaughan oversaw seven successive wins.

Duckett was soon into his stride, with the left-hander cover-driving fours off successive Milan Rathnayake deliveries.

It was a different story for makeshift opener Dan Lawrence, a middle-order batsman by trade.

Lawrence was forced to face the new ball this series in the absence of the injured Zak Crawley.

He had made just five when he got in a tangle against a short-pitched Lahiru Kumara delivery and top-edged a simple catch to gully.

Number three Pope, who made a hundred against the West Indies at Trent Bridge in July, got off the mark in style by cutting a loose ball from fast bowler Rathnayake for four and then hooked a six off Kumara. 

The 29-year-old Duckett, meanwhile, completed a speedy fifty off just 48 balls, including seven fours.

Even with the floodlights on, the umpires decided it was too dangerous to continue and stopped play for bad light, with England 76-1 off 15 overs. Rain then fell as well and the match did not resume until 1410 GMT.

It was not long before Duckett ramped Kumara for six over fine leg and uppercut him high over third ma, with all of Sri Lanka’s four-man pace attack struggling to maintain a challenging line and length.

But Duckett, in sight of just his fourth century in 26 Tests, was out when he miscued an extravagant scoop off Rathnayake to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal, with England 140-2.

“When you play like that for a period you can’t really kick yourself but I’ve obviously missed out on a Test hundred there,” said Duckett.

“It might be a learning day for me but it’s a shot I’ve been thinking of playing in Test cricket for a long time. It felt like the right option.”

The 26-year-old Pope was fortunate with a top-edged six off Kumara but the persevering paceman did have Root hooking to fine leg, where Vishwa Fernando held onto the catch despite slipping on the wet turf.

Surrey favourite Pope, 84 not out at tea, went to his first Test hundred at the Oval, when he stylishly square-drove Asitha Fernando for his 13th four in 102 balls, also including two sixes.

In the process Pope, playing his 49th match at this level, became the first player to score his first seven Test centuries against different teams.

With AFP inputs 

Ollie Pope returned to form on his Oval home ground with a first hundred as England captain on Friday’s opening day of the third Test against Sri Lanka. Pope had managed a mere 30 runs in four previous innings since succeeding the injured Ben Stokes as skipper at the start of this series. But when bad light ended play for the day, Pope was a run-a-ball 103 not out, with England well-placed on 221-3. Sri Lanka, already 2-0 down in this three-match series, failed to make the most of overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch after captain Dhananjaya de Silva won the toss. And England should arguably have had two century-makers on Friday with opener Ben Duckett, not for the first time, giving his wicket away after making 86.   

A rare bright spot for struggling Sri Lanka was the dismissal of Joe Root for 13 shortly before tea.

Root was fresh from two hundreds in a 190-run win at Lord’s where he set a new England record of 34 Test centuries.  

England, who swept the West Indies 3-0 earlier this season are chasing their first home Test campaign clean sweep since 2004, when Michael Vaughan oversaw seven successive wins.

Duckett was soon into his stride, with the left-hander cover-driving fours off successive Milan Rathnayake deliveries.

It was a different story for makeshift opener Dan Lawrence, a middle-order batsman by trade.

Lawrence was forced to face the new ball this series in the absence of the injured Zak Crawley.

He had made just five when he got in a tangle against a short-pitched Lahiru Kumara delivery and top-edged a simple catch to gully.

Number three Pope got off the mark in style by cutting a loose ball from fast bowler Rathnayake for four and he also hooked a six off Lahiru Kumara. 

The 29-year-old Duckett completed a speedy fifty off just 48 balls, including seven fours.

Even with the floodlights on, the umpires decided it was too dangerous to continue and stopped play for bad light, with England 76-1 off 15 overs. Rain then fell as well and the match did not resume until 1410 GMT.

It was not long before Duckett ramped Kumara for six over fine leg and uppercut him high over third ma, with all of Sri Lanka’s four-man pace attack struggling to maintain a challenging line and length.

But Duckett, in sight of just his fourth century in 26 Tests, was out when he miscued an extravagant scoop off Rathnayake to wicketkeeper Dinesh Chandimal.

It was a careless end to a stand of 95 in 16 overs with Pope.

The 26-year-old Pope was fortunate with a top-edged six off Kumara but the persevering paceman did have Root hooking to fine leg, where Vishwa Fernando held onto the catch despite slipping on the wet turf.

Surrey favourite Pope, 84 not out at tea, went to his seventh hundred in 49 Tests, but first at the Oval, when he stylishly square-drove Asitha Fernando for his 13th four in 102 balls, also including two sixes.

Soon afterwards bad light at 1653 GMT again saw the players leave the field, with no more play possible Friday. 

Former England captain Michael Vaughan has said he would be happy to be proven wrong on stand-in skipper Ollie Pope’s leadership credentials. At the same time, Vaughan stuck to his view that Pope is an insecure person as a leader. Pope made scores of one and 17 in England’s 190-run win over Sri Lanka at Lord’s. So far in the series, he has amassed only 30 runs in four innings. Questions have been raised over Pope being fidgety while batting and criticism has increased over his leadership abilities not being up to the mark.

Though he rotated his bowlers well and set up funky fields when required, Pope also had eight unsuccessful reviews, adding more fuel to the debate of being made the England Test captain weighing him down.

“Ollie Pope is the ideal vice-captain for England. Pope is that perfect foil for Ben Stokes. He is a very good guy, trains well and is a real team man – someone who can give tactical advice when required and is happy in the background. But he is better kept in that role, as vice-captain, than elevated to captain.”

“I would be happy to be proven wrong on Pope. But I think he is someone who is a bit insecure. I can see why they gave him the vice-captaincy to give him a boost, but he really did not need the captaincy at this stage of his career. For all the focus on Pope’s captaincy, it will be forgotten when Stokes returns in Pakistan,” wrote Vaughan in his column for The Telegraph.

He also commented on Pope being unsettled and frantic when coming out to bat at number three for England. “Not every vice-captain is going to make a captain. There are also a lot of captains who cannot be vice-captains, myself included. I wanted to be the leader. I wanted to be making the decision. I did not want to be the thoughtful strategist in the background.”

“I hope that Pope fights through his poor run of form. I hope he can find a way of getting that rhythm. In a game’s time, he is not going to be a captain, and it is purely about his batting. Can he find that rhythm and that calmness at the crease?”

“By giving Pope the captaincy now, I think England have given him a pressure that he did not need. It came at a stage when it was looking like he was working out how to bat at No 3 and had done well there against West Indies earlier in the summer. Then he gets thrown the captaincy.”

Vaughan also wishes to see Harry Brook being groomed as England’s next Test captain, and feels if needed, Joe Root can take up leadership mantle in an interim capacity. “Looking ahead, Harry Brook would be a better fit as captain for this side: his whole approach makes him a natural successor to Stokes.”

“But if there is another interim period when Stokes is injured and there are concerns about whether Brook is ready, what is wrong with giving the captaincy to Joe Root? It would not be backward step. He would just be seeing out a series when you know Stokes is coming back. And Stokes is still there in the dressing room anyway.”

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