Olly Stone relishing England Test return three years after career-saving surgery

Olly Stone will cap his recovery from a career-rescuing operation to insert two screws into his back, which took place in the hospital next to Lord’s in 2021, by returning to St John’s Wood and the England Test side. After a three-year absence he comes in for the second match against Sri Lanka on Thursday, as a replacement for the injured Mark Wood.

Stone, the only change to the side that won at Old Trafford on ­Saturday , made his Test debut against ­Ireland at Lord’s in 2019 and had not returned to the venue until his stint with London Spirit in the Hundred this summer. The 30‑year‑old’s recall to the Test side follows an unexpected emergence as a potential all-rounder.

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He has averaged 35 in nine innings for Nottinghamshire this year in the County ­Championship, a massive improvement on the 15.33 and 16.33 he posted in his past two first‑class summers and having scored one previous red‑ball half‑century, this year there have been three. “I’ve always felt I had something in there,” Stone said. “It was just trying to find a way of being more consistent and I maybe found that this year.”

Stone has played Twenty20 franchise cricket in Australia, Pakistan and South Africa, but a return to the Test team was always his goal. “You could probably try to not have the surgery and see how it goes playing white ball,” he said. “I just love the feeling of coming off after four or five days, on the back of a hard‑fought win. It’s more than just skill at times, it’s your character. It’s something white-ball cricket can’t give you. I just love the slog of that hard graft.”

Twenty-five players have bowled for England since Stone was last picked, against New Zealand in 2021, but he continued to feel that he was an injury-free run away from selection. “I know my ability and if I put in performances I would be there or thereabouts,” he said.

“This year I got told to go away and put a run of games together, then if that happened hopefully the call would come again. That’s the approach I’m going with, taking it game by game. It has helped not putting pressure on myself, going out and enjoying my cricket.”

Luke Wright, the England men’s selector, said this is “the right time to look to the future” after a ­number of senior players – including Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow and Chris ­Jordan – were left out of the squad for the white-ball series against ­Australia next month. “They’re all fine ­cricketers, but right now we just want to give some other oppor­tunities,” he said.

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Wright said Bairstow, whose two‑year central contract runs to the autumn of 2025, had not taken the news well. “It’s not the case, when we spoke to him, that he’s done. We just want him to get back to [being] one of the best ­players in the world.

“He had that horrific injury and that’s been the message. He understands that. He doesn’t like it and one thing Jonny will do is fight back – and I hope he does.”

Jos Buttler, England’s white‑ball captain, is likely to give up the ­wicketkeeping gloves for some of the three T20s and five one-day inter­nationals. “It is something he’s ­considering,” Wright said. “The need to be in the field and be with the ­bowlers at times. That could easily happen in this series.”

England team for second Test Ben Duckett, Dan Lawrence, Ollie Pope (capt), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith (wkt), Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Matthew Potts, Olly Stone, Shoaib Bashir.