England's assistant coach Paul Collingwood has played down injury fears over Ben Stokes after he was seen limping following a brief two over spell against New Zealand in Wellington.
Stokes has been dealing with a chronic knee problem ever since he took over as captain and while Collingwood admitted the issue is "always there", he insisted Stokes "knows how to manage it".
The all-rounder has gradually started bowling less and less, having delivered several lengthy spells of short pitched bowling last summer which put his left knee under severe pressure.
Speaking in August, Stokes explained that "when nothing is really happening" he wants to take responsibility and "run in and hit the wicket as hard as I can and try and make something out of nothing".
And, with openers Tom Latham and Devon Conway in the midst of New Zealand's best partnership all series, he attempted to do just that after lunch on day three in Wellington. However, his short ball barrage lasted just two overs, with Stokes delivering a series of no balls and getting warned by the umpires for bowling too many bouncers.
His spell ended after Jack Leach finally made a breakthrough, getting Conway caught at short leg by Ollie Pope, and Stokes did not bowl again. He was seen limping in the field and fans will be concerned over his fitness ahead of this summer's Ashes, given the longstanding nature of his knee issue.
But Collingwood insisted England were not too concerned about Stokes' fitness, saying: "Look, as we all know he's got a knee niggle, thankfully he's the captain out there and makes the decision when he bowls or doesn't bowl. Stokesy was happy to go to other options and he puts a hell of a lot of trust in his team and the other bowlers as well.
"He's always willing to bowl. He puts a lot of faith in his other bowlers to do the job and we needed something different with Latham and Conway getting into rhythm against that new ball.
"He came out and bowled some bouncers to change the rhythm a bit. [His knee problem] always there but he knows how to manage it. We obviously got the wicket and then he took himself off."
