Olly Stone is looking to put the frustrations of his checkered Test career behind him when he returns to England this week, pledging to fill the gap left by Mark Wood’s injury.
Stone will replace Wood in the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord’s this week, the only change since last week’s series-opening win at Old Trafford, which saw the Durham player sustain a hamstring injury that ended his Test summer.
Stone knows all about such problems, as his career was interrupted by a brutal streak of bad luck and fitness problems that included a torn cruciate ligament, broken fingers, hamstring injuries and several stress fractures in his back.
The 30-year-old made his debut against Ireland at Lord’s in 2019 but has only played two more Tests since then, the last one against New Zealand more than three years ago.
“It’s obviously nice to be back and I’m enjoying every minute of it,” said Stone. “My last Test here was my debut so it has a special place. It’s exciting to go out there and hopefully get a few more wickets.”
“My career has been disappointing and constantly changing. Hopefully this summer I’ve shown that I can go out there and play a number of games and hopefully put in the performances to justify a return. Hopefully this is the start of playing in a few more English teams.”
Wood has been outstanding for England once again this summer, hitting 97.1mph in the win over the West Indies at Trent Bridge, so Stone’s task of replicating those speeds is unenviable, but he believes he is still capable of making a significant impact on England’s attack.
“I’ll try but the way he bowls is pretty scary,” he said. “Hopefully I can go out there and try to match his speed. He’s obviously one of the fastest in the world so I’m not sure I can keep up but I’ll try my best.”
“Around 90 miles per hour would be nice. That’s something I’ve always had in my arsenal to hopefully go out and provide some extra speed, so I’m hoping I can go out and do that this week.”
The English team will face Sri Lanka in the second test: Duckett, Lawrence, Pope ©, Root, Brook, Smith, Woakes, Atkinson, Potts, Stone, Bashir
