When Ben Stokes heard his left hip "pop" in the gym of the Radisson Blu hotel in Guwahati, he feared that his 2023 ODI World Cup was over before it had begun. Instead, he looks set to make his return from injury against South Africa on Saturday night, as England look to get their tournament back on track.
Shortly after their arrival in India at the end of September, Stokes and Andy Mitchell, England's strength and conditioning coach, were alarmed to hear a noise during a fitness session which turned out to be Stokes "ripping the fascia off my muscle". Scans cleared him of a serious injury, but for around 36 hours, Stokes was convinced that he was out of the World Cup.
"When I initially did it, I thought I was done," Stokes revealed on Thursday, "because it's not good hearing a pop. Thankfully, it wasn't anywhere near as bad as what we initially thought… we got a programme in place straight away and it went really well. I'm here now, physically being available for selection, so it's pretty good."
Stokes came through England's first training session in Mumbai unscathed on Thursday night, range-hitting for around half an hour against sidearm throws. "It's obviously been a frustrating little niggle to get before the tournament started, but I've worked very hard to get to where I am now… I'm pretty confident that everything will be good.
"I've worked to get back to a position of fitness where I'm able to go out and not be a hindrance on the team. I've worked hard and got to a point where I feel like I can do as much as I possibly can without having to hide in the field, or not be able to do as much as I need to do, to be able to actually have a positive influence on the team."
Despite not playing, Stokes attempted to have a positive influence in Delhi on Sunday night, addressing his team-mates in the aftermath of their 69-run defeat to Afghanistan. He does not hold an official role in the white-ball set-up but was described by coach Matthew Mott as England's "spiritual leader" and has been a confidant to captain Jos Buttler.
"Jos and Motty have got a lot on their shoulders with it being a World Cup," Stokes said. "I try and help out as much as I can without stepping on Jos and Motty's toes in terms of how they want to lead this group. I know that people do listen when I talk. I don't try and speak too much but I try and speak when I feel it's the right time."
Stokes said that he had encouraged his team-mates to draw a line under the defeat: "You've just got to move on pretty quickly because at the end of the day, you've just lost a game of cricket at the World Cup and everyone's going to lose a game - not take it to heart. We've still got plenty of games left in the group to hopefully get through to those semi-finals."
He also implored his team-mates to rediscover their attacking style. "I don't care if we lose: I want us to go out there and play in the way we talk about. If we're going to go down, let's go down doing what we're known for. Let's not be timid, be restricted in what we want to do," Stokes said.
"We want to go out and show the opposition what England is and what we've been known for… it's just reminding ourselves about what we do best as a group of players: to always be on top of the opposition, and always make the plays, and make them be the reactive team, as opposed to us."
England are likely to re-balance their XI to accommodate Stokes' return, with Harry Brook set to retain his place after he top-scored with 66 off 61 against Afghanistan. Stokes will not bowl at the World Cup but appears likely to replace an allrounder in their side, a move which would leave Joe Root as their sixth bowling option.
Wankhede stadium, which is hosting its first game of the tournament, is renowned as a high-scoring venue which generally offers pace and bounce for seamers, which Stokes believes should suit England. "There have been some pretty slow wickets, especially under the sun," he said. "A fresh wicket at Wankhede might be completely different."
But Stokes also cautioned against any expectations that he would single-handedly transform England's campaign. "I'm not the Messiah. I think Woody [Mark Wood] said that, which is true: I'm one person in a team sport, one person who can add certain bits. It doesn't all of a sudden mean you're going to win a game because I'm just a very small part of a bigger entity.
"Everyone who walks onto that field for England is a match-winner in their own right. If two or three of us have a day out, we know we'll be a hard team to beat. I don't think anyone - in team sport - coming back in automatically means you're going to win a game. All I can try and do is what I do every single time I wear an England shirt, and give my absolute all."