By Richard Gibson For Mailonline
Published: 19:22 GMT, 7 February 2019 | Updated: 19:22 GMT, 7 February 2019
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England have been dealt an injury scare on the eve of their quest to avoid becoming the first team to lose to West Indies by a three-Test margin since the eighties with Ben Stokes nursing a bruised right heel.
Durham all-rounder Stokes travelled to England’s penultimate training session but did not take part in practice due to the wear and tear issue.
The 27-year-old remains confident of being fit, having sat out the net session as a precautionary measure. He spent the majority of the day having ice applied to the area.
The injury is said to be precautionary but Ben Stokes did not take part in training on Thursday
However, the development was still of concern two days shy of the final match in St Lucia and the England management will undoubtedly take a cautious approach to one of their prized assets with the World Cup and Ashes on the horizon.
The no-risk policy has already seen Chris Woakes, who has been dogged by a knee problem since the warm-up matches in Barbados, wrapped in cotton wool while wicketkeeper Ben Foakes was still reporting some discomfort in his right hand a week after being struck by Shannon Gabriel in Antigua.
That pair both took some part in training on Thursday as an England team that arrived in the Caribbean attempting to win for just the second time in 51 years now face the prospect of claiming an unwanted piece of history as the first opponents to lose to the Windies by a scoreline of 3-0 or greater since India in 1989.
The wretched displays so far led England coach Trevor Bayliss to slam the lack of a
