England Test captain Ben Stokes played down concerns over his injury ahead of The Ashes against Australia, saying his long standing knee injury was "nothing to worry about".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 31-year-old on Saturday hobbled after taking the catch of Curtis Campher at short fine leg but he continued to be on the field on day three of off-one Test against Ireland, a game England won by 10 wickets with over a day to spare. He later revealed that there was nothing to worry about his injury.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The star all-rounder did not bowl in the match but sent down some deliveries in the warm-up before day three's play in a potential boost for England less than two weeks out from the first Test against Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"Actually I didn't pick it [the ball] up and I landed quite awkwardly on it [the left knee]. My weight went on the inside of the knee like I hyper-extended but I bowled this morning, the first time I have bowled since being back from India (from IPL) so it's been about four weeks actually and I got through that and I was really happy with where I was, so nothing to worry about," Stokes said at the post-match presentation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"I was really happy with how I bowled [before the start of day]. I bowled for about 20 minutes and I got through that really well. Obviously I have got time to build up before I push back into flat out, but I just landed quite awkwardly when I took that catch. I didn't quite see it so had to adjust myself and landed on my left leg and it twisted in a really strange way. It was fine, I just don't know what really happened. It was one of those things -- but I am 32 tomorrow so that probably explains it," he added.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Notably, Stokes' knee injury limited his impact with the ball during the drawn Test series in New Zealand in February, with the skipper bowling just nine overs in two games.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
He has only delivered one over since -- in the IPL for Chennai Super Kings in early April -- but said before the Ireland Test that hard work on his fitness out in India had given him "the best opportunity" to play a full part with the ball in the Ashes.<\/p>\r\n\r\n