Stokes suffers groin injury as Ashes workload takes its toll

England captain Ben Stokes is unlikely to bowl during the final day of action in the 2025-26 Ashes, after being forced off the field 15 minutes into Wednesday's play in Sydney with a right adductor injury.

Stokes pulled up during his second over of the fourth day, after his 10th delivery of the morning, and turned immediately towards the dressing room to walk off. He was four balls into his 28th over, the biggest workload of England's bowlers up to that point, and 126.4 overs into Australia's first innings, with the hosts 523 for 7 in their first innings, leading by 139. Jacob Bethell, who later compiled a brilliant maiden Test hundred, completed the over.

The ECB subsequently confirmed that Stokes was being assessed for "a right adductor complaint", but his discomfort was made clear when he came out to bat at No.8 in England's second innings. He managed a solitary hobbled run, before edging his fifth ball to slip, as England closed on 302 for 8, a slender lead of 119.

Harry Brook, England's vice-captain, took over in the field after Stokes' departure, and looks set to lead England on the final day, with Australia favourites to close out a 4-1 series win, as and when their final run-chase gets underway.

"I don't know if [Stokes] will be bowling tomorrow. I can't imagine he will be, so we're going to have to do it with three seamers," Bethell told TNT at the close. "That rough looks pretty nice for those lefties and then Jacksy obviously to the righties as well, it's been spitting out of that, so that'll bring us into the game."

It is at least a silver lining for England that Stokes' injury came on the penultimate scheduled day of the Ashes. His team are already 3-1 down, with the Ashes surrendered after three Tests, and a consolation victory was already improbable by the time he left the field. Now that he is no longer part of England's white-ball plans, Stokes' next scheduled cricket is in on June 4 at Lord's for the first of three Tests against New Zealand. He may also target a return for Durham in the County Championship to tune up for that series.

This is the fourth injury Stokes has suffered in the last 18 months, and the fourth successive series hampered. The 34-year old missed the 2024 home series with Sri Lanka with a right hamstring tear sustained during the Hundred in August, which forced him to sit out the first Test of their winter tour of Pakistan. In December 2024, he suffered a recurrence of that hamstring tear in the third and final match of England's series in New Zealand.

Last summer, he effectively ruled himself out of the fifth Test against India with a right shoulder injury. Bowling through visible pain on the last day of the fourth Test, at Emirates Old Trafford, he pushed for a victory that would have sealed the series, knowing it would prevent him playing in the finale at the Kia Oval. India held out for a draw and went on to win the final Test to square the series 2-2.

Such has been Stokes' focus on his body - upping his gym sessions and cutting down on alcohol - he has actively avoided franchise competitions. That includes the ECB's own Hundred competition, having ruled himself out of 2025's edition with Northern Superchargers before his shoulder injury. He had hinted he would do so again this year, with three Tests against Pakistan starting right after the end of this summer's competition.

Stokes has been England's most reliable seamer across all five Ashes Tests. He started the series with 5 for 23 in the first innings at Perth, and has gone on to take 15 wickets at 25.13. He had been the team's second-highest wicket-taker at the time of his injury, though his tally was then overtaken by Josh Tongue's 3 for 97 to dismiss Australia at the SCG. Only Brydon Carse, with 130.4 overs, had bowled more than Stokes' 101.1. He bowled a seven-over spell on Tuesday (day two) to take England to the second new ball, his fourth of a similar length this series, including an eight-over spell after lunch on the opening day of the fourth Test in Melbourne.

Stokes' deployment of his own bowling, however, has been called into question for much of the series. His reluctance to take the new ball came into particular focus in his match with England shorn of their specialist opening bowlers Gus Atkinson and Jofra Archer. Many of his spells since the first innings of the series have had to make amends for the waywardness of his fellow quicks.

Stokes had begun to tour as comfortably the fittest player in the squad, having worked his way back to full functionality after undergoing knee surgery at the end of 2023. Accordingly, he had been optimistic about his future beyond the series, having agreed a two-year extension to his ECB contract, which will see him through to the end of the 2027 Ashes summer.

"I've got through quite a lot in this series," Stokes said in the build-up to this final Ashes Test. "When you get older you do have to work harder away from the sport out on the field, to keep where I am at the moment. I've had some decent injuries over the last couple of years, and when you do have those, you have to constantly work on doing the tiny things that you probably don't want to do most of the time. Those are the things you have to do as you get older. Everything becomes a bit harder, it gets harder getting out of bed in the morning.

"But the competitiveness within me takes over when you get out there. When the game finishes, everything feels a little bit sorer. To do all the stuff in the gym, to go out running, It's the stuff you have to do to keep going. I have a contract until the end of 2027, so there's a lot more I want to keep doing. I will keep working hard to make sure that is out on the field."