Ben Stokes to undergo knee surgery after Cricket World Cup, hopes to be fit for India Test series in January

England Test captain Ben Stokes has confirmed he will have surgery on his ongoing knee injury after the Cricket World Cup.

The 32-year-old has been forced to play as a specialist batter in India as he has been unable to bowl.

There were suggestions that Stokes may have had the procedure on his knee following the Ashes series against Australia in the summer, but he decided to compete in the World Cup instead.

England face Australia on Saturday with their hopes of reaching the semi-finals all-but mathematically over after five defeats in six matches.

"I am having surgery after the World Cup. I will be fine for the Test series in India,” said Stokes ahead of the game in Ahmedabad.

"Obviously it's been a long time coming and obviously I want to get back to what I've been doing prior to the 18 months where I've had this injury.

"We'll just see how everything goes, see how I respond to the surgery and all the rehab as well...I don't think the surgery is going to have any hindrance on me taking part in the series in India."

England play a five-Test series in India starting on January 25.

Stokes did not comment in detail about the procedure, which will see him miss the white-ball tour of the West Indies in December.

Leading knee surgeon Dr Andy Williams will carry out the surgery, according to ESPN.

Stokes said the knee injury has been a "big hindrance".

"There's obviously something that needs to be operated on," he added.

"It's been a big hindrance on me, and affected what I can do for the team. Obviously, that [being an all-rounder] is what I want to be doing. You'd hope that it means that I can get back to doing what I've been known for, which is playing a role as a batter, and playing a role as a bowler as well."

After five defeats from their opening six matches, England are bottom of the World Cup table.

A loss against Australia will end any remaining faint qualification aspirations.

"We've had a disastrous World Cup," said Stokes.

"There's no point sugarcoating that, because it's the truth.

"Everything we've tried throughout this World Cup, through trying to put pressure back on to the opposition in the way in which we know, or trying to soak up the pressure in a different way, which we know we've done before and been successful with, it's just not worked.

"Every opportunity that we've had in front of us where we feel like we can take control of the game, the opposition's managed to get it back towards them. We've just not been able to put a full game together, or even get close to putting a full game together - except against Bangladesh."

- - -

TNT Sports presents the premium live sports rights previously carried by BT Sport including the Premier League, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League, Gallagher Premiership Rugby, Investec Champions Cup, EPCR Challenge Cup, MotoGP, Cricket, UFC, Boxing and WWE. The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination. You can also watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media