Captain says bowler’s injury decisive in fifth Test
Stokes admits dropped chances also proved costly
Ben Stokes paid tribute to the bravery of Chris Woakes as a series during which players battled at various stages through broken feet and shattered fingers ended with a one‑armed man at the crease, his other arm in a sling, enduring obvious agony as England fell seven runs short of victory.
Stokes said: “That never-say-die, never-back-down attitude we’ve installed in the group nearly paid off. It was never going to be a question for him to go out there. He was in a lot of discomfort even running between the wickets.
“But we’ve had Rishabh Pant go out to bat with a broken foot, we’ve had Shoaib Bashir bowling, batting and fielding with a broken finger and then we had Chris go out there and try and get his team over the line with a quite recently dislocated shoulder.
