England to rest Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali against South Africa

28 May 2017 06:09

England will rest Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali as injury precautions in the final Royal London Series match against South Africa - and have brought Steven Finn, Toby Roland-Jones and Liam Dawson into their squad.

It is understood there is no significant concern as yet about the availability of any of the first-choice trio for England's opening Champions Trophy match against Bangladesh at The Oval on Thursday.

Key all-rounder Stokes, who hit his second one-day international century as England took an unassailable 2-0 series lead over South Africa at the Ageas Bowl on Saturday, has managed to bowl only five overs in two matches this past week.

It is expected he will have a second round of scans - probably on Tuesday - to establish the cause of pain in his left knee, after initial checks proved inconclusive but indicated no recurrence of the injury which required surgery 12 months ago.

Frontline seamer Woakes was a surprise absentee at the weekend, having felt muscle tightness in his right thigh, and will play no part as England seek to complete a series clean sweep at Lord's on Monday.

Off-spinning all-rounder Moeen will also be missing because of a groin niggle.

There may be an unexpected opportunity therefore for either Finn or the uncapped Roland-Jones on their home ground, or for slow left-armer Dawson to add to his solitary ODI appearance to date - on the back of his eight-wicket match haul in the Specsavers Division One victory sealed by Hampshire over Somerset at Taunton on Sunday.

Finn returned to England's one-day international fold on the successful tour of the West Indies two months ago - taking four wickets in that 3-0 series victory.

The 28-year-old Middlesex seamer was retained in the squad to face Ireland in two matches at the start of this month but, with Woakes and Stokes available again after their maiden Indian Premier League campaign, he was then not chosen against South Africa or for next month's Champions Trophy.

England's £1.7million action man Stokes has been as confused as anyone about the pain which appears to trouble him only in one key activity.

"It is just in my delivery stride bowling," he said.

" Batting and running around the field and everything like that is fine."

England will begin their Champions Trophy campaign on a nine-match winning run if they can first complete their Royal London whitewash.

The successful streak for Eoin Morgan's team has included two wins at home to out-of-sorts Ireland and three away to a depleted West Indies.

Nonetheless, it is already the joint third best in their ODI history - in which the 11 consecutive victories of 1991/92 still stand alone.

England's latest win, by two runs the narrowest in their sequence, came in improbable circumstances thanks to a remarkable final over in which Mark Wood conceded just four singles, and David Miller and Chris Morris' unbroken sixth-wicket stand of 62 somehow failed to get South Africa over the line.

Stokes' century was a major factor too, of course - and his full fitness will be key to Champions Trophy prospects.

It is no surprise in the circumstances that England have decided a match off is no bad idea.

"We are managing it as well as we can with the physios, doctors and myself," said Stokes.

"It is an injury I have had before and something that sometimes will just go away.

"On some days I don't know whether it is going to be good or not. We only really find out how it is when I start bowling."

It was when he started batting that Stokes had one or two early issues in Southampton, dropped first ball and second off ODI debutant Keshav Maharaj before making the tourists pay dearly.

"It was a bit lucky, that!" he said with a smile.

"It was a shaky start - the first 20 balls I found it quite tough. But after a shaky start you don't really want to give your wicket away cheaply."

As for his injury, he is just hoping the next set of scans prove informative.

He said: "Then the doctors, physios and strength and conditioning coaches (will) have a further idea of what we can do to counteract it and maybe take the problem away.

"I hope it will become a bit clearer and we can nail down what it is.

"I have had it on and off for about two or three years now. It's all about managing it."

There are no such physical issues troubling South Africa as yet, but captain AB de Villiers knows a win on the board would be decidedly handy before the impending global tournament.

He is nonetheless heartened by his team's improvement.

"Games like these give me a lot of confidence," he said.

"The boys are very disappointed. But I'll definitely try to lighten up the mood, because I think we deserve that. We played a really good game of cricket."

Source: PA