England all-rounder Ben Stokes has expressed that he is planning to return to England’s bowling attack in the upcoming third one-day international (ODI)against Pakistan on Tuesday.
All-rounder Stokes has been involved in both those victories but as a batsman only after a calf problem prevented England one-day captain Eoin Morgan deploying him as a member of the hosts pace attack.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, "The plan from the start was to be fit and ready to bowl by the third ODI and by the way things are going it is looking likely I will be an option for Eoin in Nottingham if needed," he said after Saturday s four-wicket win at Lord’s.
"I have done all the prep to get myself fit and put my hand up and say I am ready to bowl. I bowled for about 15 minutes flat out and all the build-up stuff I needed to do has been done."
He added: "It's so boring. Honestly, it makes the fielding innings seem a lot longer because if you bowl ten overs it kind of takes 20 overs out of the game for you."
"But I pride myself on my fielding as well and one thing that keeps me switched on the whole time is that I don t want to give away any runs. I want to try and stop as many as possible -- and applying myself to that has got me through the fact I am not bowling”.
“But it’s nice to get that confidence from your captain and coach saying ‘we want you to play as a specialist batsman’ — so I have wanted to make sure I make some runs in these first two matches.
"I think that knowing I wasn’t going to bowl in these first two games I have worked longer on my batting in the buildup days in training. It’s been quite nice to solely concentrate on the batting side in these first two."
However, England moved a step closer to winning the five-match series on Saturday after a four wicket victory at Lord's. Morgan's side took the first match by 44 runs by the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain affected game at the Rose Bowl on Wednesday.
England will head to Nottingham 2-0 up with three to play after convincing wins at Southampton and Lord’s.
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