England captain Ben Stokes is ruled out of the fifth and deciding Test against India due to a shoulder injury, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) said on Wednesday (July 30, 2025). Vice-captain Ollie Pope will be the captain for the 5th test match at the Oval starting Thursday. England is leading by 2-1 up in the five-Test series.
Ben Stokes has bowled 140 overs — the most he has bowled in any series. Also, he is at the top of the list, the leading wicket-taker on either side with 17 scalps.
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England captain Ben Stokes said in a press conference:
“I am obviously disappointed to not be able to finish the series,” “I have got a decent tear of one of the (shoulder) muscles I can’t pronounce, I don’t know how to say it, but we took as long as we could to make that decision around that.
“A bit of emotion goes into this kind of stuff when you find out what you have done — bowling was ruled out as soon as we got the scan results.
“But you need that time chatting with the medical team, Baz (England coach Brendon McCullum), then just 20 minutes to myself out there in the morning just to really be clear around the decision that we made.”
England with four changes to its Playing XI for the 5th and final Test
❌ Ben Stokes
❌ Jofra Archer
❌ Brydon Carse
❌ Liam Dawson
England Squad for 5th Test vs India:
Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (c), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jacob Bethell, Jamie Smith (wk), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Jamie Overton, Josh Tongue
