BEN STOKES will step up his return to fitness on Saturday… by playing for a local club side.
The England all-rounder has been registered to play for Newcastle Cricket Club in their North East Premier League match at Chester-le-Street, close to Durham’s Emirates Riverside ground.
Stokes, 25, will play for the table-toppers as a specialist batsman and is also likely to be available for their game the following weekend at Stockton.
The Durham star has been out of action since England’s First Test against Sri Lanka last month following knee surgery.
But he will field for his county today as a 12th man on the final day of their County Championship match with Yorkshire.
And Stokes will now look to prove he is on course for England’s First Test with Pakistan at Lord’s next month by starring in the local league this weekend.
The ECB are keen for Stokes to get some cricket and have given him the green light to play, providing he gets through his Durham fielding duties today without any problems.
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Newcastle were able to sign the England international as NEPL rules allow each club to field a Durham player – and their regular county pro, Graham Clark, broke a finger playing for Durham’s Second XI this week.
Doug Hudson, Newcastle’s director of cricket, told SunSport: “We are delighted to have a player of his quality playing for us.
“It helps us get over our problem of Graham being injured and it gives Ben an opportunity to get some batting in the middle as he aims to get back into the England set-up.
“Clearly a player of his quality will enhance your side.
“We are top of the league and hopefully he can help us stay there over the next couple of weeks.”
Meanwhile, the rest of England’s stars have been back in training, readying themselves for the second ODI against Sri Lanka.
Eoin Morgan’s men tied a thrilling opening encounter, thanks to some late heroics from Jos Buttler, Chris Woakes and Liam Plunkett.
Buttler and Woakes both smashed quick-fire 90s – with the latter bagging the highest ever ODI score by a No8 – before speedster Plunkett smashed a six off the final ball to tie in the most incredible of circumstances.
And now they are back on the training field ahead of Friday’s showdown, running through some fielding drills to go along with a usual intra-squad kick-about.
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