Mark Wood and Steven Finn will both miss England’s Test tour of South Africa through injury, but Ben Stokes is fit again in time to be named in the squad.

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All-rounder Stokes is understood to have recovered sufficiently from the collar-bone joint injury he suffered fielding in this month’s final Test of England’s 2-0 series defeat against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates.

Fellow pace bowlers Finn and Wood are still not thought ready, though, to be included in a likely 17-man squad which will be announced on Thursday morning.

A bone-stress problem in Finn’s left foot ruled him out on the eve of the first Test against Pakistan, and he flew home on crutches six weeks ago.

Wood then had to miss the last Test in Sharjah with a recurrence of the chronic impingement in his ankle. It is unclear as yet whether he will need surgery this winter, or merely an extended rest, to ready him for another big year ahead.

In any case, the unavailability of the two seamers – and two of England’s fastest bowlers – has left the selectors to ponder who should come in to complement frontline pair James Anderson and Stuart Broad in a country where pace will be a key weapon.

Chris Woakes, who played the last of his four Tests to date 15 months ago, has done his case no harm by ending a fallow run of six one-day internationals – and 50 overs – without a wicket, taking four in each of England’s two victories over Pakistan in the past week.

The 26-year-old may well be one of two set for a previously unexpected call-up, with Wood and Finn absent.

Should Woakes get the nod, it will be a reversal of fortune after he lost his place initially not through form but the same occupational hazard of injury.

“Whenever there is a squad announcement coming up, it is always good to be in decent form and taking wickets … because the selectors are always watching,” he said of his improved results in an ODI series England lead 2-1, with just one more match to come in Dubai on Friday.

By then, Woakes and others will know who is set to travel again next month to take on the world’s number one Test team.

 

Possible England Test squad (v South Africa): AN Cook (Captain), AD Hales, IR Bell, JE Root, JWA Taylor, BA Stokes, JM Bairstow (wkt), MM Ali, SCJ Broad, LE PLunkett, JM Anderson, CR Woakes, JC Buttler, MA Footitt, AU Rashid, A Lyth, GS Ballance