INJURY HAM-MER BLOW STOKES UP SKIPPER WORRIES

ENGLAND may be forced to reconsider Ben Stokes' future as an all-action all-rounder.

- RORY DOLLARD

Stokes left the field in Hamilton clutching the same left hamstring he tore badly in August.

He was physically unable to complete the over he was bowling on the third afternoon of the final Test against New Zealand.

The sight of captain Stokes (above) hobbling out of the ground with a compression bandage on his leg was a gut-wrenching image.

Stokes had seemed to banish 18 months of fitness troubles and finally looked ready to resume duties as his team's action hero.