Ben Stokes is set to return to bowling duties in the third Royal London One Day International at Trent Bridge on Tuesday. 

The England all-rounder has been playing as a specialist batsman in the first two matches due to a calf injury. 

"I have done all the prep to get myself fit and put my hand up and say I am ready to bowl,” said Stokes. 

"The plan from the start was to be fit and ready to bowl by the third ODI. By the way things are going it is looking likely I will be an option for Eoin Morgan in Nottingham if needed.” 

Stokes has had a summer punctuated with injury; after having to pull out of the Sri Lanka series with a knee injury that required surgery. His comeback game in the second Test at Old Trafford against Pakistan was cut short by a calf injury.

The decision by selectors to play Stokes ahead of Yorkshireman Jonny Bairstow came as a surprise to the Durham all-rounder, and his batting prowess prevailed in the second ODI after the he hit a quick fire 42 off 30 balls. 

“It's nice to get that confidence from your captain and coach saying we want you to play as a specialist batsman," he said.

"Knowing I wasn't going to bowl in these first two games, I worked longer on my batting in the build-up days. It's normally quite hard to get everything into training that I want, so it's been quite nice to solely concentrate on the batting in these first two games.

“Not bowling makes the fielding innings seem a lot longer. It's so boring,” admitted Stokes

“One thing that keeps me switched on the whole time is that I don't want to give away any runs. I want to try and stop as many as possible - and applying myself to that has got me through to the fact I am now bowling.” 

England lead in the five match series 2-0 after convincing victories against the tourists at the Ageas Bowl and Lord's, and will have their eye on clinching the series at Trent Bridge, but the all-rounder insists England must not get ahead of themselves. 

"We have gone 2-0 up in the series because we have been playing the better cricket. If we were to think we have won it already and slip up - that could be the worst thing we could do.

"We haven't won the series yet. We've got the next one to do that, so we'll still be trying to improve on these performances.”

 

Trent Bridge will host an Investec Test Match between England and South Africa, and a Royal London One-Day International visit from the West Indies, in 2017.

Sign up here to be the first to hear about fixture and ticketing information for these two matches.