He looks great...": James Anderson provides fitness update on Ben Stokes

Former England pace legend and current bowling coach James Anderson provided a fitness update on Test skipper Ben Stokes saying that the star players looks great while bowling in nets as he prepares to make his comeback to the game following a hamstring injury sustained in AugustStokes has been ruled out of the Multan Test on Monday after he failed to recover from his hamstring injury Earlier in August Stokes suffered a hamstring injury during The Hundred This ruled him out of Englands triumph against Sri Lanka 21 and it was Ollie Pope who led the side in the veterans absenceSpeaking to BBC as quoted by Wisden Anderson said He looks great He has worked really hard on his fitness and is looking as strong as Ive ever seen him Knowing Ben once he gets into the game there will be no stopping him Hes just that sort of player Hes good to go well just have to wait and see what he can do in the gameWith Pakistan now using the pitch used during the first Test for the second match Anderson is hopeful that Stokes could make a comeback for the match and the team will have less reliance on their third seamer The track is expected to have a lot of cracks and hence be useful much more for spinners Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir along with the handy Joe RootAlso ReadBorderGavaskar Trophy Potential picks to replace Rohit Sharma as captainAnderson also feels that using an old surface could be useful for the visitors saying When we are talking about Bens workloads and his bowling it might play into our hands with that with the spinners potentially playing more of a part We do not know what we are going to getIn the first Test England became the first team to ever take a first innings lead of over 200 runs after conceding over 550 in the first innings Pakistan by contrast became the first team to lose a Test match by an innings after scoring over 500 runs in the first innings thanks to Englands 8237d the fourthhighest Test innings total of all time and the highest in the 21st century Shaheen could get only one wicket while Naseem got two Both went for a lot of runsThe result moved England to fourth on the World Test Championship table to keep hopes of a Final spot alive and consigned Pakistan to last place in the standings with a possible points percentage of just 1667 per centFollowing extensive conversations held by a newlyformed selection committee some of Pakistans most wellrenowned players will miss the second Test in Multan against England in a host of changes Babar Azam headlines numerous changes made by a newlyformed selection committee in the immediate aftermath of Pakistans humbling innings defeat in the first Test on Friday which came despite them posting runs in excess of 550 runs in their first innings Pacebowling duo Naseem Shah and Shaheen Shah Afridi are also out of the squad as is keeperbatter Sarfaraz Ahmed Legspinner Abrar Ahmed who dealt with illness and was subsequently taken to hospital during the first Test will also sit out as per ICCThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever