England captain Joe Root admits the Test side is simply not the same without Ben Stokes but is more interested in his welfare as a mate than a matchwinner.
Stokes has taken an indefinite break from the game to prioritise his mental health and fully recover from a finger injury, a shock development for English cricket’s biggest star.
On a purely sporting level, the absence of his totemic all-rounder, vice-captain and most bankable big-game player severely weakens Root’s hand as he looks to get things back on track following defeats in each of England’s last two series. But for now, that is not the priority.
“From my point of view, I just want my friend to be OK,” said Root.
With so many moving parts behind the scenes it is easy to overlook a couple of significant personal milestones Root could tick off in Nottingham.
He needs just 22 runs to overtake Sir Alastair Cook’s career mark of 15,737 – the most international runs for England across formats – and is one more win away from eclipsing Michael Vaughan’s record of 26 Test wins as captain.
Pushing aside the individual accolades, he said: “I’d be more excited with us winning: win the first Test, start well, try to win the series.
“I know if I score big runs it gives us the opportunity to win the game. That side will look after itself. But Test cricket is not about you, it’s not about you as an individual, it’s about winning for England and contributing towards that.”
