England Test cricket captain Ben Stokes has been warned he won’t play “too long” matches if he continues to play the way he does.
Stokes, who holds the world record for most runs in an inning at number six, took over as captain in April after Joe Root resigned.
As well as leading the team in Test, the iconic fast bowler kept his side in the first Test against South Africa as the visitors got the better of the majority of the game and England were unsuccessful to bowl or bat convincingly.
All this despite Stokes playing with a persistent knee problem.
And former England international Steve Harmison believes relying on Stokes will soon force England to play without him.
Speaking to talkSPORT2 after day two of England’s first Test against South Africa, the former fast bowler said: ‘When you need something different, when you need your fast bowler , this is Ben Stokes, your executor.
“And the longer it goes on with the body he has, the more we are potentially playing test matches as England captains, as England all-rounders, potentially as cricketers. English.
“I’m not sure the last test match I saw Ben Stokes play in a game, a full game, without me thinking he was grimacing or he got hurt or there’s something which is wrong here.
“He has the biggest heart and he will do whatever he can for the team, but he becomes a breaking point the further you go in your career and when you start to get into your thirties.”
Stokes began to suffer from left knee pain during England’s tour of the West Indies in March, and he also picked up lateral strain at the Ashes in Australia.
The 31-year-old announced he was retiring from one-day international cricket in July, citing the physical and mental demands of playing all three formats.
But Harmison thinks Stokes – who has played 83 Tests so far – needs someone to tell him he needs to do even more to protect his body and the longevity of his Test career.
“Someone is going to have to go up to him and tap him on the shoulder, and say ‘the positive outcome of this is you’re going to have to stop bowling like that because you’ve retired from modern cricket, to extend about your test match career.
“I think Ben said it himself, or Brendon [McCullum] said so, or Keysey [Robert Key] said, ‘Ben Stokes will play 120-125 test matches’. He plays 125 if he doesn’t play like that.
“If he plays like that, he probably won’t play 100.”
England ended up losing the first Test to South Africa by one set and 12 runs on Friday in three days, their first loss under head coach McCullum alongside Stokes as captain.
A heavy defeat.@OfficialCSA win the first test @HomeOfCricket.
Dashboard: https://t.co/2nFwGbDmqe
🏴 #ENGvSA 🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/u3HY9ZxpWy
— England Cricket (@englandcricket) August 19, 2022
But even before England succumbed to defeat, Harmison said their performance at Lords already summed up the problems Stokes and the setup of English cricket are facing.
“[Stuart] Vast, [Jimmy] Anderson and [Matthew] Potts is a pretty good bowling offense for four Test games this summer, yeah, okay, perfect,” he said.
“One of them wasn’t on it today [Thursday], Potts wasn’t there as much, Broad in the middle of the session didn’t play as well as he would have liked. Only Jimmy used the newish ball really well.
“All of a sudden we run the risk of getting into an older ball situation, the games are not going, we need something different. And that’s where Ben comes in.
“He won’t stay there very long if he continues to play the way he plays.”
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