Graham Thorpe admits he does not know whether Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow or Jos Buttler will be fit for England’s Ashes finale in Hobart. All three sustained painful injuries during a taxing fourth Test in Sydney, with Stokes awaiting scan results on a side problem while Buttler (left index finger) and Bairstow (right thumb) both fear that X-rays will confirm fractures.
The trio will all be needed to dig deep and help their team scrap for a draw on day five, with England facing the prospect of 98 overs at the crease when they resume on 30 without loss and 358 adrift. But for one, two or all three of them, whatever effort they give could be their last contribution of the campaign.
Sam Billings has been added to the squad as wicketkeeping cover for Buttler and Bairstow, with the emergency stand-in, Ollie Pope, and Dan Lawrence also waiting in the wings.
Thorpe, England’s assistant coach, who is leading the squad while Chris Silverwood completes his Covid-19 isolation, said: “We’ve got some blows. It’s possible [they will miss the final Test] but we will be assessing all of that at the end of the game. Sam has been called into the group and that’s a good indicator of some of the concerns we have with the injuries.
“At the end of the game we have to assess who is potentially going to be available. With Stokes, his injury is not a great one being an all-rounder.”
England hope Silverwood will be back in time to help put the jigsaw together in Tasmania, with much depending on whether or not Stokes is fit enough to play as a specialist batter.
After a four-catch display during Australia’s second innings Pope could be considered as a short-term wicketkeeper fix next week, though Billings is a likelier deputy having made an 11-hour road trip to join the squad from the Gold Coast. “Ollie did fantastically well, it’s a bit like a goalkeeper … if you don’t really notice them that means that they’ve done very well,” said Thorpe. “It took me a while to realise it was him back out there. That gives us options.”
Australia are likely to have selection headaches of a happier kind after Usman Khawaja scored twin centuries – 137 and 101 not out – on his first appearance in two and a half years. He was supposed to be a one-game replacement for Travis Head after the latter caught Covid-19 in Melbourne, but it would be a remarkable if he were to drop out of the XI after such a dominant display.
Khawaja, though, is fully prepared to stand down. “At the moment I’m quite resigned to the fact that I’ll probably miss out,” he said. “That’s just from talking to George Bailey [Australia’s head selector] about continuity. That’s important, I’m not totally against that process.
“I felt like throughout my career, a lot of changes were made and I was on the wrong side of them so I’m the first to say that I think there needs to be structure and stability. I actually like the processes that the selectors have been taking throughout the series so at the moment I’m not really expecting to play the next match.”