In a setback before the decisive fifth Test against India, England skipper Ben Stokes has been ruled out with a shoulder injury.
The fifth Test, which is about to begin at The Oval on Thursday, will now be led by vice-captain Ollie Pope as England enjoys a slender 2-1 edge in the five-match series.
The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also ratified Stokes' unavailability in an official communiqué, stating, "Captain Ben Stokes is unavailable due to a right shoulder injury."
In the same statement, the board also declared spinner Liam Dawson and pacers Jofra Archer and Brydon Carse would be missing from the last Test as well.
England have made four changes to their XI in response. Opening the batting will be Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue, and young all-rounder Jacob Bethell, who will bat at No.6 and be the lone spinner for the team.
Stokes' non-availability will be sorely missed—he has been the top performer of the series, topping the wicket list with 17 wickets and adding 304 runs, with a century, to become England's fifth-largest run-scorer.
Among the other exclusions, Archer had made a good comeback with nine wickets in two Tests at 28.66 average, with best figures of 3/55. Carse, although played all four matches, was sloppy with the ball, taking nine wickets at more than 60 runs per wicket. He did play some decent cricket with the bat, making 164 runs off six innings with a half-century. Dawson, back in Test cricket after eight years, had an uneventful performance in Manchester, taking just one wicket and making 26 runs.
England's new-look XI features Surrey pair Atkinson and Overton, while Josh Tongue returns after his last appearance in the Birmingham Test. Tongue has managed to pick 11 wickets in the series so far with an average of 33.63.
With India holding a gritty draw at Manchester, the visitors can no longer win the series—a triumph they last accomplished in England in 2007. Yet they still have a chance to finish the tour on a positive note by equalizing the tournament 2-2. The fifth Test gets underway Thursday at The Oval.
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