(AFP): England captain Ben Stokes said Saturday he will miss the first Test against Pakistan starting next week, after failing to recover from a hamstring injury.

The 33-year-old Stokes has been out since the start of August with a hamstring tear suffered during The Hundred, missing his team’s 2-1 home Test series win against Sri Lanka last month.

Top-order batter Ollie Pope, who led the side against Sri Lanka, will stand in again for the first of three matches starting in Multan on Monday.

“I tried my hardest to get myself fit for this game,” Stokes told reporters. “But have taken the call to miss this one because I’ve not quite managed to get the game ready.”

All-rounder Stokes was at team practice on Friday and Saturday, batting in the nets and bowling a few deliveries with a short start. But the skipper said he was “not sure” he would participate in the second Test — also in Multan and slated for October 15.

“I’ve pushed myself incredibly hard and worked really hard with the medical team to get to where I’m at now,” he said. “I think I’m further ahead than what we expected. I’ll be working just as hard over the next ten days to try to get myself fit for the second Test.”

Late last month, the England and Wales Cricket Board said Stokes had been “on track” to play against Pakistan. “There is a lot that has to go into my rehab programme,” he said. “It’s always frustrating to miss out.”

With Stokes out, England announced their eleven for the first Test, giving pace bowler Brydon Carse his debut in the longer format.

The tourists will enter the Test with three pacers in Carse, Gus Atkinson and Chris Woakes, alongside the spin duo of Jack Leach and Shoaib Bashir. Opener Zak Crawley also returns to the squad after missing the Sri Lanka series with a fractured finger.

As sweltering temperatures bake pitch and levels of smog climb, England opener Zak Crawley on Friday warned young pacers of the visiting team that they will face a “test of character” in the Test series against Pakistan.

This week, the England team landed in Multan, where the first two matches of the three-match Test series will be played starting on Monday.

While the England team has started training in 37°C temperature, monitoring firm IQAir said air pollution was about 27 times higher than the level deemed safe by the World Health Organisation.

“It will be challenging, but we have got all the things in place to counter that,” said Crawley, returning to the squad after missing a home series against Sri Lanka with a fractured finger.

“We are looking forward to that challenge,” the 26-year-old told reporters in Multan. “We have been talking about it for the last couple of weeks.”

He predicted England’s quintet of pace bowlers — on their maiden tours of Pakistan — would particularly face a “test of character and test of skill”.

With experienced pace duo James Anderson and Stuart Broad now retired, the baton of pace bowling is with Brydon Carse, Matthew Potts, Gus Atkinson, Olly Stone and Chris Woakes.

“These young guys have got a lot of skill,” said Crawley. “Being young brings in energy and fire in the belly as well, and I am sure they will be raring to go and do well.”

Pakistan’s international cricket performance is in dire straits, and the red-ball team has lost all five matches during the tenure of skipper Shan Masood which began last year.

Last month they suffered a humiliating first-ever 2-0 home series defeat to low-ranked Bangladesh.

Crawley is one of the eight players on England’s Test squad who also played in the team beating Pakistan 3-0 in 2022, inflicting on them their first whitewash at home.

“I think we will put pressure on the opponents, like the last time,” said Crawley, citing England’s aggressive “Bazball” tactics, dubbed after the nickname of head coach Brendon McCullum.

“The finger is good and I have recovered well,” Crawley said about his recovery from injury. “I am absolutely raring to go. I can’t wait.”

The second Test starts in Multan on October 15 with the final match played in Rawalpindi from October 24.

Pakistani boxer Muhammad Waseem Saturday beat his Georgian opponent Jaba Memishishi in Bantamweight ranking bout at the World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF) taking place in Malta. 

The 34-year-old stunned the Georgian boxer in the third round of the competition to achieve the new milestone. 

This adds to Waseem’s 13th professional victory, with nine of those coming by knockout.

In addition, his professional boxing record now stands at 13-2 from a total of 15 bouts.

Previously, the boxer faced a refusal for a visa from Denmark. In regard to this, the two-time WBC silver champion expressed his disappointment in an interview with a local news channel.

“I have been a world champion twice, and they rejected my visa, claiming I would disappear if I went there. I travel all over the world and was training with my coaches in London. I needed to arrive in Malta early to prepare for the upcoming world title fight,” he said.

Earlier in August, the “falcon” was hopeful for success against his opponent Sabelo, and he proved that.

He stated: “I am hopeful for success against my opponent. The world title fight is very important to me, and I do not want to miss this opportunity,” Waseem added, urging the Pakistani government, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, and the army chief to intervene and help secure his visa.

HENDERSON, Nev. — The Las Vegas Raiders have informed other NFL teams they would “consider” trading three-time All-Pro receiver Davante Adams for a package that would include a second-round draft pick and additional compensation, league sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.

Adams, acquired by the Raiders in a blockbuster trade with the Green Bay Packers for first- and second-round draft picks on March 17, 2022, missed his first game as a member of the Raiders on Sunday with a hamstring injury suffered in practice on Thursday.

He was on the sidelines for the Raiders’ 20-16 win over the Cleveland Browns and celebrated fellow receiver DJ Turner’s first career touchdown.

Earlier Tuesday, Adams appeared on the “Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams” and was asked about Raiders coach Antonio Pierce’s verified Instagram account liking a post from Sports Illustrated wondering whether Adams had played his final game with Las Vegas. The like was later removed.

“I haven’t heard from him. I haven’t talked to him,” Davante Adams said when asked if he has heard from Pierce. “… Social media is a beast so it’s a lot of people out there that saw it and wondering what’s going on and reaching out.”

Told by Kay Adams that a lot of people think he has played his last down with the Raiders, Davante Adams said, “All I can control is this talk we’re having right here and after we’re done with this all I can control is the next thing that I’m on to.”

Earlier this offseason, with so many rumors linking him to his former Packers quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, now with the New York Jets, Adams’ agents Kenny Chapman and Frank Bauer disputed the speculation, calling it “baseless” and “unfounded.”

Bauer, Adams, Pierce and Raiders general manager Tom Telesco did not reply to messages Tuesday. Pierce and Adams, though, are scheduled to meet with local media Wednesday.

Adams’ salary for this season is $17.5 million, with $13.5 million still owed through the end of the season. And while he is under contract for 2025 and 2026, his annual salary jumps to $36.25 million for each of those seasons.

With such a hefty price tag, a trade partner would likely have to get Adams to agree to a restructured contract.

Adams, 31, created a bit of a stir in the Raiders’ building this offseason with several of his comments on the Netflix series “Receiver.”

During a sideline venting session in a Week 6 game against the New England Patriots, a game in which Adams was hit repeatedly, Adams said, “I gotta get the f— out of here before I lose my f—ing life. I ain’t never been hit this many f—ing times in my career. Every game, I get f—ed up.” While the comments themselves grabbed attention, the fact that Adams, as a willing participant in the series, allowed them to be aired is what raised eyebrows.

“I watched pieces of it, but there’s nothing to talk about,” Pierce said at the start of training camp. “Davante signed up for the show, there were things said and shown and it is what it is. You can’t erase it.”

Adams then missed the final two weeks of camp to return home for the birth of his son. Adams said he would prefer to not play in the preseason while Pierce said all starters would suit up for the Raiders’ exhibition finale. Adams was then “sore” following an “awkward movement” in practice that kept him sidelined.

Sitting out the Browns game marked the first regular-season game Adams had missed since 2021, with the Packers.

Adams, who agreed to the Raiders trade partly to reunite with his college quarterback at Fresno State, Derek Carr, only played one year with him in Las Vegas as Carr was released in spring 2023.

Since then, Adams, who had really had only two quarterbacks since high school in Carr and Rodgers, has caught passes from Jarrett Stidham, Jimmy Garoppolo, Brian Hoyer, Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew.

Adams has 18 catches for 209 yards and a touchdown through three games this season. He has 221 catches for 2,869 yards and 23 touchdowns in 37 games with Las Vegas.