England's Ben Stokes has revealed that he will undergo knee surgery in the coming weeks.
The 32-year-old is currently part of the squad that is competing at the Cricket World Cup, one that has proven to be a disastrous campaign from both an individual and team perspective.
Stokes has been restricted to just three appearances - a consequence of a hip issue sustained in the gym - and he has since posted scores of five, 43 and a duck.
Meanwhile, defending champions England have all but been eliminated ahead of the semi-finals having won just one of their six matches in India.
Ahead of Saturday's showdown with Australia, Stokes has taken the opportunity to reveal that he will have an operation on his knee once England's tournament is officially over.
Ben Stokes confirms that he will be "having surgery after the World Cup" 🚨 pic.twitter.com/0Hzc7CEkwn
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) November 3, 2023
As it stands, it appears that Stokes may still feature against the Baggy Greens, but the all-rounder has told the media that he is having an operation on his knee at this time in a bid to be fit for the Test tour of India, which starts in January.
Speaking to reporters, Stokes said: "There was a lot of time put into deciding when to get it done. Obviously the India Test series which we start at the end of January, I should be fine to go by then."
He added: "I always go down with the docs and the physios and they use language that I've never heard before. There's obviously something that needs to be operated on.
"I'll switch off and let the surgeon do what he does best, which is fix knees."
Since the end of the Ashes series with Australia in July, Stokes has participated in just six official one-day internationals after performing a U-turn on his decision to be unavailable for that format.
