• All-rounder’s injury could lead to reshuffle of resources• Roy, Buttler or Bairstow may lose out on a place
Ben Stokes is due to undergo a scan on the shoulder injury he suffered during England’s 185-run defeat at Old Trafford, and if he is unable to bowl in the fifth Test at the Oval this week then one of Jason Roy, Jos Buttler or Jonny Bairstow will potentially miss out.
The destiny of the Ashes may have been secured by Tim Paine’s tourists going 2-1 up with one match to play, but Ed Smith’s selection panel and the captain, Joe Root, have still opted to defer any reboot of the Test team until they plan for the winter tours to
New Zealand and South Africa.
England have therefore named an unchanged 13-man squad for Thursday’s Test, allowing batting hopefuls such as Ollie Pope, Zak Crawley and Dom Sibley to press their claims in the remaining county fixtures and avoid trying to start (or in the case of Pope, resume) Test careers against Australia’s high-intensity pace attack.