Olly Stone has pledged that he will “try to touch” Mark Wood’s speeds when he replaces him as England’s out-and-out fast bowler at Lord’s this week. Wood hit 97mph/156kph against West Indies last month but injured his thigh in the first Test against Sri Lanka and has been ruled out for the rest of the series, with Stone replacing him as England’s only change to their XI for the Lord’s Test.
Stone, 30, has only played three Tests in his injury-blighted career but has been a regular in England squads when fit. After missing most of last season with a hamstring injury, Stone has played 28 times across formats this summer for Nottinghamshire and London Spirit, the second-most appearances he has made in a single season.
He will have a similar role in the side to Wood, being asked to bowl as fast as he can in short spells. “It’s been pretty frightening… the way he’s come in and bowled this summer is very exciting,” Stone said. “Hopefully, I can go out there and try to touch his speeds. He’s obviously up there with the fastest in the world so I’m not sure if I’ll match it – but I’ll give it a good shot.”
Stone made his Test debut at Lord’s in 2019, but then had back surgery in the adjacent Wellington Hospital in 2021, having two screws inserted. “It’s the best thing I ever went in for,” he said. “Thankfully – touch wood – so far, I’ve had no recurrences with that… I’ll keep coming back for Test cricket until my body tells me otherwise.
“I just love the feeling of coming off after a long four or five days, on the back of a hard-fought win. It’s more than just skill at times: it’s your character, and the way you are out there as a team for those four or five days. It’s something that white-ball cricket can’t give you. I just love the slog of that hard graft, going out there and providing your team with something different to help you try to win the game.
“I’ve always said that one of the reasons I went down certain surgical routes to have my back sorted was so that I could go out and play Test cricket again. It’s never been in my mind to give that up. If my body then gave up on me, maybe I’d have to step away. But thankfully, so far, I’ve found a way and I can be back out there in an England shirt.”
That Stone is regarding this week as a “second debut” speaks of his desire to start a new, injury-free chapter in his career. In total, he has suffered four stress fractures of the back – including two in the space of seven months in 2019 – with the last of those picked up during his previous Test appearance, against New Zealand at Edgbaston in 2021.
In 2016, he damaged his anterior cruciate ligament celebrating the wicket of Moeen Ali in a T20 match for Northamptonshire against Worcestershire, which ruled him out for 13 months. In 2022, he sustained a broken finger while making a comeback for Warwickshire’s second team after that back operation the year before, which required more surgery and ruled him out for a further six weeks.
Ahead of what will be only his 53rd first-class appearance, Stone, who turns 31 in October, is optimistic about a healthy few years on the horizon.
“Although I’ve had these injuries, I feel as good as ever and ready to keep going for a few more years.
“It’s been a long time and [Lord’s is] a special place to play regardless of the situation. So to come back and play, I just want to go out there and enjoy it, play with a smile on my face and hopefully the wickets will come.”
Stone also has the chance to show he can be a viable option as a long-term No.8. This summer has been his most productive to date, scoring 315 Division One runs at an average of 35.00, with three half-centuries including a career-best of 90 against Somerset in June.
“If I can go out there and put a few runs on the board and add to a good score you never quite know,” Stone said, on the prospect of his securing a long-term place in the XI with his batting. “County cricket and Test cricket can be quite different so that’ll test me.
“I guess maybe my motivation at the start of the year was the longer I bat, the less I bowl. Whether that was I put a few shots away maybe initially, and then once I get in, start to, not necessarily play loads of shots, but be a bit more positive.”
Stone has taken 11 Championship wickets at 52.63 for Nottinghamshire this season but has benefitted from England’s decision to prioritise attributes over averages in selection. The same logic informed Josh Hull’s call-up as cover for Wood – with Luke Wright, the national selector, hinting that Sam Cook would have come into the squad if Chris Woakes had been injured, rather than Wood.
“Sam has been very aware of how we’re looking to balance our pace attack, and he’s close,” Wright said. “I feel for Sam. He’s an incredible bowler, and you’re never that far away. If it had maybe been Woakesy, or a different [injured bowler], then it might bring him into it more.
“But once we lost Woody, we wanted to try to keep that pace into it and have that variety in attack, and obviously that’s where having a big 6ft 7in left-armer that we could bring in, that’s why he got the nod ahead of him. But look, for Sam, he’s certainly on the radar. He’s missed out this time, but it doesn’t mean he does down the line.”
England XI for second Test vs Sri Lanka: 1 Ben Duckett, 2 Dan Lawrence, 3 Ollie Pope (capt), 4 Joe Root, 5 Harry Brook, 6 Jamie Smith (wk), 7 Chris Woakes, 8 Gus Atkinson, 9 Matthew Potts, 10 Olly Stone, 11 Shoaib Bashir
