England captain Ben Stokes is out of their first Test against Pakistan having failed to recover from a hamstring tear in time. (Streaming | More Cricket News)
Stokes suffered the hamstring injury in August playing in The Hundred and has not played s🎶ince, m🐓issing England's three-match series against Sri Lanka last month.
Engla👍nd said last week that the 33-year-old was "on track" to participate in the tour and trained away from the rest of theꦐ team in their first session.
Stokes confirmed he will misᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚs the first Test, which begins on Monday in Multan, and Ollie Pope ꦛwill continue to deputise as captain in his absence.
"I tried my hardest to get myself fit for this game but have taken the call 🌺to miss this one because I've not quite managed to get game-ready," Stoke💞s told BBC Sport.
"There is a lot that has to go into my rehab programme. We got to a certain point, but looking at the picture of what we've got coming up andꦐ physically where I'm at, I'm♔ not quite ready to play.
"It's always frustrating to miss out. I've got some good things to focus on, so even though I'm not playing, I've g🔯ot a goal in mind."
The second Test starts on October 15, but the all-rounder admitted he was not sure whether tha🌞t was a realistic target for his return.
"I've pushed myself incredibly hard and worked really hard with the medical team to get to where I'm at now. I think I'm further ahead than what we expected," hꦦe added.
"I'll be working just as hard over the next 10 days to try to get mys🌊elf fit for the second Test."
In his absence, Durham seame𝓰r Brydon Carse will make his England Test debut.
He has prev🍌iously played 1🍃9 ODIs and four T20s for England and will make his red-ball bow just over a month after completing a three-month ban for historical gambling offences.
England XI for first Test against Pakistan: Zak Crawley,ꦗ Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope (captain), Joe Root, Harry Brook, Jamie Smith, Chris Woakes, Gus Atkinson, Bryson Carse, Jack Leach, Shoaib Bashir🎐.
