He appeared to hit his left knee – which he had been careful to handle for several years – when he took a catch on a short good leg to send Curtis Campher off, and was restricted in his range of motion in the field for the rest of Ireland’s second innings.
“I actually didn’t choose it [the ball] up, and I actually landed on it rather awkwardly [my knee]Stokes said during the post-match presentation, when asked about the catch. “My weight shifted to the inside of my knee, like I was hyper-extending.”
Stokes insisted on the eve of the Test that he was fit to bowl against Ireland, although he added that there would be no “doom and gloom” if he did not. He briefly bowled in the warm-up on the third morning as bowling coach David Saker watched, saying he was “really happy” with how it felt.
“I bowled this morning – the first time I’ve bowled since I got back from India, so it would have been about four weeks really,” he said. “I got through that and was really happy with where I was. So no, nothing [for England fans] worry about.”
He later suggested that his grimaces after completing the capture were mainly due to his age. “I was very happy with how I bowled [before play]” said Stokes. “I bowled for about 20 minutes and I came through that very well. Obviously I have time to build up before going full throttle again, but I landed rather awkwardly when I took that catch.
“I didn’t quite see it so I had to adjust myself and landed on my left leg and it turned in a really strange way. It was fine, I just don’t know what really happened. It was one of those things – but I’m going to be tomorrow 32 so that probably explains it.”
In conversation with the BBC Test match special, Stokes said he “took the positives” and that he “wouldn’t have bowled in this match…unless everyone else went down”. He added: “I’m definitely on track to bowl in the first Test.”
England have designated an unchanged 16-man squad for the first two Ashes Tests on Saturday afternoon, who will report to Birmingham on June 12 for training on June 13, three days before the start of the Edgbaston Test.
In the meantime, Stokes is one of several players traveling to Scotland to play golf next weekend, as Australia play India in the final of the World Test Championship at The Oval.
“The new way is you prepare as best you can and whatever you do, get yourself in the right mood for the games that are coming up,” said Stokes. “Obviously this was a great opportunity for us to get back together as a group and we will do that again for the Ashes.
“We’ll get together and spend some quality time together as a group and have some fun together before the big Ashes series starts. We’re really looking forward to it.”