Chris Woakes: England withdraw star from remainder of The Hundred season over fitness fears following Ben Stokes injury

The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have pulled Chris Woakes out of contention for the remainder of The Hundred season due to injury fears.

The ECB said the decision to remove Woakes from The Hundred is “due to the management of his workload” and that he would be “unavailable for the remainder of the competition”.

Stokes’ troubling injury occurred just before England are due to get their Test series against Sri Lanka underway at Old Trafford on Wednesday, August 21.

The 33-year-old, who is due to have a scan on Tuesday, is expected to miss the first of three Tests and could be out for an extended period of time.

That has led England to pull Woakes, the team’s other all-rounder, out of the action.

Woakes was scheduled to play Birmingham Phoenix’s final two group matches at Edgbaston against Trent Rockets and Manchester Originals.

But the ECB has stepped in to prevent him from playing any further part to protect his fitness ahead of the Sri Lanka series.

Stokes is not the only absentee for the upcoming Test, as England have been hampered by injuries.

Zak Crawley has been ruled out with a finger issue, while Dillon Pennington – who is yet to feature – has also been ruled out with a hamstring problem.

James Anderson played his final Test match for England in July before announcing his international retirement but is still yet to decide his next move.

The legendary player, who racked up 704 Test wickets in his England career which started in 2003, has insisted that he is “still fit enough” to play and is “intrigued” by short-form cricket.

Anderson 42, has said that it is possible that he could prolong his playing career and is not “shutting himself off to anything” in the future.

“I might be in a bit of denial because I’m well aware I won’t play for England again, but I’ve still not made a decision on my actual cricket career,” the veteran swing bowler told the Press Association.

“There’s definitely a bit of intrigue with the shorter formats because I’ve not played any franchise stuff before.

“Watching The Hundred this year, seeing the ball swing around, it makes me feel like I could do a job there.

“I know it’s a while since I played it and my age will get brought up again but I really feel I’ll be good enough to play that form of cricket.”