Ben Stokes was forced to leave the field during day three of England's third Test against New Zealand at Seddon Park after a recurrence of a left hamstring injury.
England's captain pulled up after the second ball of the 56th over of New Zealand's second innings - his 13th, and third of the day - on Monday afternoon, immediately feeling the back of his left thigh after delivering a bouncer that Rachin Ravindra pulled for four. It was the same hamstring he tore in August while batting for Northern Superchargers against Manchester Originals in the men's Hundred, which kept him out for two months.
Bowling from the City End, Stokes put his hand on his face and kept walking in the direction of the team dressing room away at the newly renamed Tim Southee End. New Zealand were leading by 409 at the time, as left-arm spinner Jacob Bethell finished the over.
An ECB update at tea stated Stokes will not return to the field for New Zealand's second innings while he receives treatment, with a further assessment to be made on whether he will bat. England will face a mammoth chase - the hosts were 478 ahead at the interval - though they have already secured the series after victories in the first two Tests.
Stokes' 36.2 overs in Hamilton were the most he has bowled for in a Test since 40 overs at Trent Bridge in 2022 (also against New Zealand). On day one, his 23 overs were the most he has managed in a single day, split between spells of eight, eight and and seven.
This series has brought him seven dismissals at 36.85 had come from 66.1 overs - his most as captain - accompanied by a batting average of 52.66 from four innings. After struggling to effectively fulfill the allrounder role, this series had been a welcome return to the Stokes of old.
It was only on the previous evening (Sunday) that assistant coach Paul Collingwood lauded Stokes' return as a talismanic allrounder: "It's great that he's got his body back into a place that he can bowl as many overs as he feels he needs to. It's a huge positive for us moving forward."
Stokes looked understandably crestfallen as he walked off, having only just overcome the physical and psychological toil from the initial hamstring tear which derailed his return to full fitness in the summer.
Having arrived into the home summer following successful knee surgery in October 2023, he bowled 49 overs across three Tests against West Indies, with five wickets that took him past 200 career dismissals. The tear subsequently set him back, ruling him out of the three-match series against Sri Lanka at the end of the season, and the first Test of the Pakistan tour.
Stokes returned for the final two matches of that series but England lost both, succumbing to a 2-1 defeat having won the first Test. He admitted his drive to regain full fitness led him to "physically drain and ruin himself". When the squad gathered at Queenstown at the start of the series, Stokes apologised for the negative effect he had on the team environment.
Prior to this final Test, Stokes was optimistic he was in a good place, with a better understanding of his body.
"I have to work so much harder on the physical side of the job to allow me to go out and do my job but I got a good amount of overs in during the last two games and I am more confident about getting through a lot of spells in a day.
"That is where I got to before I pulled my hamstring. I bowled nice in summer, had a setback but now feel out of that and worrying about anything else happening again. As you get older you think about your body a bit more but I work harder because I have to."
Now, the 33-year-old must undergo another period of rehabilitation. England's next Test match is not until May 22, against Zimbabwe at Trent Bridge, but a lucrative £800,000 with MI Cape Town in the SA20, which begins on January 9, may have to be forgone. Having signed a two-year central contract in October, the ECB has the power to withdraw him outright from the tournament, even if he is able to regain fitness prior to the end of the group stages, with MI's final match on February 2.
This latest setback also complicates any prospective white-ball return for Stokes. The man himself has remained coy on whether he will make himself available for the upcoming Champions Trophy, with Test head coach Brendon McCullum assuming control of the limited-overs sides. Now, perhaps, the decision has been made for him.