England‘s Test captain Ben Stokes won’t be part of the first Test on the team’s tour of Pakistan, beginning on Monday in Multan. But the star allrounder decided to not remain totally out of action when he turned into a cameraman during a fun moment.
Stokes will stay in rehab mode, recovering from his hamstring injury as the visitors announced their playing eleven on Saturday.Taking Stokes’s place as captain will be batsman Ollie Pope, who had also led the team during the 2-1 Test series win at home against Sri Lanka.
With the 33-year-old Stokes confirmed to be out of action for another week, he decided to wear the hat of a cameraperson capturing former England captains Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain in their roles as expert commentators.
The video of that light-hearted moment was shared online by Sky Sports.
Talking about him being out of the first Test, Stokes told BBC Sport: “I tried my hardest to get myself fit for this game, but have taken the call to miss this one because I;ve not quite managed to get game-ready.”
“It’s always frustrating to miss out. I’ve got some good things to focus on, so even though I am not playing I have got a goal in mind.”
There remains a question mark over his availability for the second Test as well, which will also be played in Multan from October 15.
“I have pushed myself incredibly hard and worked really hard with the medical team to get to where I am at now. I think I am further ahead than what we expected. I’ll be working just as hard over the next 10 days to try to get myself fit for the second Test,” Stokes said.
The England eleven will see fast bowler Brydon Carse playing his first Test.
England will begin the series as favourites against Pakistan, who suffered an embarrassing 0-2 Test series whitewash at home by Bangladesh before this assignment.
