England will not rush back Ben Stokes, insists Chris Silverwood

It was announced at the end of July that the allrounder would be taking time out of the game to focus on his mental wellbeing, as well as allowing more time for recovery from a finger injury

England will not attempt to rush back Ben Stokes from his indefinite break from cricket.

It was announced at the end of July that the allrounder would be taking time out of the game to focus on his mental wellbeing, as well as allowing more time for recovery from a finger injury.

Craig Overton replaced him in the squad for the first two Tests against India, with England now one-nil down in the five-match series after a dramatic defeat at Lord’s on Monday, where the home side’s batting frailties became clear once again.

Head coach Chris Silverwood insisted, however, that he would not push his vice-captain back into action and that his return would come on his own terms.

“There is no pushing from my point of view,” he said, speaking a day before England name their squad for the next Test at Headingley. “I don’t think you can push with these issues. I will wait and there will be an element of waiting for him to come to me to let me know he is ready.

“There is no time limit on it. I would stress again the important thing is Ben is okay, his family is okay and that he comes back strong and, when he re-enters the frame, he is ready in his mind to come back and perform for England like we know he can.

“I am certainly not pushing him for an answer, and I don’t think that would be the right thing to do. There are people around him supporting him and, when he is ready to come back in, we will welcome him with open arms but until then he will get all the support he needs.”

^{England have struggled to share the run-scoring load in Ben Stokes' absence}

In July, Stokes made an accelerated return to the England fold to captain the one-day side in a three-game series against Pakistan, after the original squad was forced to self-isolate following a Covid-19 outbreak in the camp.

He has been involved in tours to South Africa and India, as well as time in the IPL, during the pandemic - at a time when elite sports teams have operated within strict bio-secure bubbles, and having gone through the heartache of losing his father Ged last December.

Stokes has previously spoken of the experience of moving between bio-secure bubbles over the course of the past 18 months.

He said: "Just because we are in nice hotels and are well paid doesn’t mean we don’t go through the same stresses and strains as everyone else.

"We are all human and our mental well-being is very important. The ECB are right to look after their players as best they can."

England have been searching for a formula to improve as a batting unit in his absence, with Joe Root having scored more than three times the number of runs of Jonny Bairstow, the team’s second-highest run-scorer in the ongoing series.

Root’s series average of 128.66 is the result of two hundreds and a half century, while Bairstow is the only other player to have passed fifty so far. By contrast, England have registered 12 ducks in just two Tests, with nine out of 14 players having fallen without scoring.