Stokes described his return as "scratching an itch" on Tuesday. "I'm all good, just slowly progressing," he said in an ECB video. "It's still very early days in the rehab period I want to get back as quick as I possibly can, so being around the medical team here with physio and doctors, I thought that was going to give myself the best chance of getting back sooner rather than later."

"Injuries are never ideal, but they're also great chances for people to keep improving their game and have a little bit of time of reflection and think about what he can work on in his game. I'm sure that's exactly what he's doing in the nets. Going into that Pakistan series and then into New Zealand, he's going to be as fresh as anyone."

"I know [Crawley] is gutted he's not here playing in these Test matches, but for him to pop in and catch up with the guys is great and it shows where we're at as a squad, and how we're a tight-knit unit. We want to keep driving that forwards because I think that helps us on the pitch as well."

"He's obviously had a tough time, and has injuries that unfortunately fast bowlers can just get, especially when they bowl up to 90mph. I'm really excited for Olly to get the opportunity to pull that shirt back on. I know how hard he's worked and I know how hard it is being injured for such a long period of time."

Stokes described Pope as moving into his interim role "seamlessly" and said that he had enjoyed watching from the dressing-room in Manchester. "I was actually pretty relaxed and pretty chilled," he said. "I thought I might be a little bit frantic When you don't have the emotion of being in the game, you do look at it from a different point of view."