Cricket-England skipper Stokes injures hamstring again in Hamilton

Stokes, who pulled up clutching his thigh while bowling and left the field immediately for treatment, missed four tests after tearing the same hamstring during The Hundred in August.

The team said a call on whether the all-rounder would bat in England’s second innings at Seddon Park would be made after “further assessment”.

England have already won the three-match series after thumping victories in the first two tests and are assured of having to chase down a world record target to sweep the series.

Stokes bowled 24 overs in New Zealand’s first innings and was two balls into his 13th over of the second when he suffered the injury a much heavier workload than he undertook in the first two tests.

The 33-year-old also pulled up mid-over while bowling in the series opener in Christchurch and handed the ball to Gus Atkinson, although on that occasion he did stay on the field.

He said after the match that he had stopped bowling because he had not wanted to push his body unnecessarily with the test all but won.

England next play in the longest format in a one-off test against Zimbabwe in May before a five-match home series against India in July and August followed by the Ashes series in Australia at the end of the year.

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