Broken Ben Stokes steps aside for England prodigy Jacob Bethell to take the stage in India series finale

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The news filtered through on Wednesday morning just as bleary eyed journalists were shuffling around The Oval’s perimeter towards an underground press room. Ben Stokes was out. England were heading into the heat of battle in this decisive fifth Test without their warrior captain.

In walked Stokes looking like a Viking god, blonde locks slicked back, calves chiselled out of stone, to explain why he could give no more to this absorbing series against India. “I’m very disappointed. It’s a decent tear to one of the muscles that I can’t pronounce. We took as long as we could to make the decision.”

Stokes’ shoulder injury will take six or seven weeks to recover, and he hinted that the looming Ashes series, which begins in Perth in November, was a factor in his decision to step back. “It was one of those, weighing up the risk and reward, and the risk was way too high if I damaged it further than it is. I wouldn’t expect any of my players to play with this kind of injury.”

It has been a gruelling few weeks, physically, emotionally, tactically, taking a toll on no one more than Stokes. He has never bowled as many overs in a series, a labour in itself, and he has done it while hitting 304 runs, diving around the field, plotting India’s downfall, rallying his players, inciting confrontation and answering a rapt press.

Stokes speaks to the media at The Oval on Wednesday (Getty)

His injury felt like an inevitable consequence of all those demands, slain not by India but by Test cricket itself. Not even Stokes is built to play at this intensity, with so little rest over what has been a blisteringly hot English summer.

Could he have given himself a lighter workload with the ball? “No, not at all. When I’m out on the field I play to win and give everything I possibly can. If I feel there’s a moment in a game where I need to put everything I’m feeling aside, I’ll do that because it’s how much this team means to me, how much playing for England means to me, how much winning means to me.”

Could the five-Test schedule, packed into six weeks, have been easier on the players? “The gaps between games could be done a little better. You’ve had two eight- and nine-day turnarounds and two three-day [turnarounds]. Maybe you could look at making them all five days before every game so there’s consistency. It has been tough for both teams.”

Indeed, India will be without their own talisman, Jasprit Bumrah, at The Oval, as he is still making his way back to full fitness after a back injury.

Ollie Pope assumes the captaincy while Jacob Bethell takes Stokes’ place at No 6 in the batting line-up. In the supremely talented Bethell, England have a piece of gold that they are still figuring out how best to use. Will he ultimately become a white-ball monster? Is he destined to be a middle-order red-ball destroyer? Could he even become a Test opener, able to fend off the world’s best fast bowlers under cloudy skies at 11am? He has the natural ability to do all three.

Jacob Bethell playing as a replacement fielder at Old Trafford (Getty)

Warwickshire teammate Olly Hannon- Dalby told The Guardian a story of visiting Bethell’s home as a teenager growing up in Barbados. “Outside, they have a cricket ball in a sock hanging from a really high beam on a three- or four-metre rope, so a huge arc when it swings. Our guys could hit it three or four times before messing it up, but he kept going and going. He just never missed.

“Not only that, his dad kept shouting random fielding positions and Jacob was middling it to wherever he was told, even though the ball kept swinging back from different angles. It was so, so difficult and pretty crazy to watch.”

Aged 21, Bethell was thrown into the deep end of Test cricket on last year’s tour of New Zealand, batting at No 3 with almost no red-ball hinterland to call upon. It was not without controversy – he had been fast-tracked, skipping the hard yards on the County Championship circuit without ever recording a ton on a chilly April day at Chester-le-Street like many before him. Yet Bethell responded with a maturity beyond his years, averaging 52 across three matches and playing every kind of shot en route.

He has adapted that effortless technique to all forms of cricket, but there remains a glaring omission from his young CV. The 50s column is brimming but the 100s is still empty. His top score in T20s is 87; in ODIs it’s 82; in first-class cricket it’s 96. He scored 96 against New Zealand but this is a fresh chance to channel all that talent into a first career century.

Stokes is not worried about the expectation on Bethell’s young shoulders. “There was a lot more hype and pressure in New Zealand when he was given a chance at No 3 and he handled that pretty well. He gets to slide in at No 6. I’m very confident in his abilities, he’s a quality player.”

Jacob Bethell was outstanding in New Zealand over the winter (AFP/Getty)

That elusive century won’t be easy to come by on a pitch that is expected to be green and offer some assistance to the quick bowlers, which is why England have dropped spinner Dawson and picked four seamers, with Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton and Josh Tongue coming into a refreshed attack. This is unlikely to be the runs-fest of Old Trafford, and a result should come one way or another.

England lead the series 2-1, and a contest coloured by animosity between the two camps can still be drawn by India, something which captain Shubman Gill claimed would be a victory on hostile soil. From accusations of English time-wasting at Lord’s, to handshake-gate at Old Trafford and Tuesday’s squabble between India coach Gautam Gambhir and The Oval’s head groundsman, it has been a spiky encounter. And neither captain would change a thing.

“No regrets,” said Stokes, while Gill insisted: “The relationship [between the two teams] is fantastic. But in the heat of battle you do or say things you might not do.”

The battle has one final instalment at The Oval. Only this time, England must find a way without their all-action hero taking the fight to India.