NASSER HUSSAIN: It’s so wrong to treat our Test stars like pieces of meat

There was a moment on Friday when I looked down at the action and wondered: why we are treating our international cricketers like pieces of meat?

It was a farcical scene. England’s last man Ollie Robinson played a pull shot and shuffled to the other end, struggling with a lingering back spasm, Ben Stokes was hobbling around in mid-pitch and Australia captain Pat Cummins had just about run himself into the ground.

Just days after a physically and mentally draining match at Lord’s, and a fortnight after an emotional ringer of a first Ashes Test went into the last couple hours, we were watching them all slugging it out again and the madness of the schedule hit me.

Simple changes would make all the difference. There are nine days between this game and the fourth Test in Manchester, so why only three days between this one and the second. Why not make it four and eight, and give the players an extra 24 hours of rest?

Why does the Test have to start on a Thursday, when starting on a Friday would retain weekend play. Look after your cricketers. Remember, it is only a year since Stokes, one of the biggest assets of the game, retired from one-day internationals citing an impossible workload. When Stokes is at the crease, producing his swashbuckling, bar-emptying performances, the whole country takes notice and the rest of the world tunes in, too. He is a remarkable cricketer who even on one leg can smash the ball into the Western Terrace. But that’s not the way it should be.

England captain Ben Stokes produced a swashbuckling performance despite a leg injury

England’s Ollie Robinson was forced off the field after struggling with a lingering back spasm

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This would never happen in football. You wouldn’t have half-injured players trying to win major prizes. Could you imagine Pep Guardiola starting someone half-fit for Manchester City?

Of course, Stokes has to play because he is Ben Stokes. But he came here as a specialist batsman because he bowled 12 overs straight at Lord’s last week and his knee won’t allow him to do that kind of thing again so soon.

That means England had to play five bowlers in Leeds. In that scenario, you can’t pick Ben Foakes as wicketkeeper.

When Ollie Pope got injured — and I cannot believe the umpires made him field last week after he dislocated his shoulder — they should have been thinking about playing Jonny Bairstow as a batter because that’s where his success lay last year. But because Stokes can’t bowl, they needed to bring in an extra bowler as well and that ruled out the Foakes option.

So they called in Mark Wood and Chris Woakes and vowed to look after them because they’ve not been playing much recently.

Wood was brilliantly managed on day one by Stokes, being limited to nine overs up until tea and short, sharp spells. England don’t want to risk losing their premier fast bowler. Such sub-plots are frustrating but also intriguing.

England actually went into the Ashes undercooked whereas Australia were ready, having won the World Test Championship, and if England do get back into this series it would put Australia and their bowlers, and captain Cummins in particular, under stress.

If Australia win this one, Cummins can rest up for the next one as the Ashes will be done. Someone else can captain.

Lose, though, and he will be forced to go into five games in a row. Lose the next and it would be six at the Oval.

England staying in the series as long as possible pushes the opposition captain to his limits from a physical point of view.

England have had to manage the workloads for Mark Wood  (above) and Chris Woakes

But should the pinnacle of Test cricket be like this? This is the series you should be peaking for. One with the best English and Australian cricketers going at each other full tilt.

Yes, injuries are a part of sport, but these guys shouldn’t be on the biggest stage so impaired. It wouldn’t happen in any other sport.

We’ve been lucky to have the theatre of Wood steaming in and I have always enjoyed watching extreme pace, so it made me think what a shame it has been not to see more of this lad.

You want to see people such as Stokes, Wood and Cummins for a long time, not retiring into an IPL sunset, and if we keep treating them like this we risk that.

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