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Ben Stokes has pulled out of the opening skirmishes of The Hundred in order to rest and prepare for the Test series with South Africa.

Stokes will play in the ODI series against the Proteas that follows straight after the series decider with India on Sunday, but he is giving the shortest forms of the game a miss in order to manage his workload and fitness.

Stokes was meant to be appearing for the Northern Superchargers in The Hundred, and a two-week window has been created for the start of tournament, but instead his focus is on ‘Bazball’ for now rather than 100-ball cricket.

It does mean that Stokes will have the chance to play in front of a home Durham crowd for England for just the third time in his career and the first time since he became Test captain.

And he could be joined in a North-East trio with Matthew Potts earning his first call up to the ODI squad after impressing during his Test bow against New Zealand and India.

With Brydon Carse also in the squad, Durham are well represented in the 50-over squad, although all three drop out of the T20 series that follows providing an indication of who England will be looking to during the South Africa Test series.

Jonny Bairstow is the only all format player who has