England charismatic all-rounder Ben Stokes will step up his return from a hamstring injury by playing for the Durham Jets in their opening match of the domestic Twenty20 Blast tournament against the Yorkshire Vikings on July 5.
The 27-year-old, who sustained the injury in the build-up to England’s second test match against Pakistan earlier this month, will play as a specialist batsman.
“Stokes has been training with England since the latter part of the one-day international series against Australia and will rejoin his county early next week leading into the start of Vitality Blast competition,” Durham said in a statement.
Stokes is expected to return for England’s third T20I against India in Bristol on July 8.
