England’s Ben Stokes said the knee problem that handicapped him in Ashes’ opening game was a flare-up from an older injury and the all-rounder is confident he can deal with it in his second game in Adelaide this week.

Stokes scored five and 14 in the nine-wicket loss to Australia in Brisbane, bowing only 12 wicket overs after shaking his knee.

It was his first competitive game since July after a mental break and rehabilitation after an operation on a broken finger.

“A long hiatus will show, but there are no excuses,” Stokes wrote in his column for The Mirror.

“I didn’t do anything other than catch a catch and throw a few no-balls, so the only positive thing is that I probably can’t get much worse.

“People will have seen me rub my knee from time to time when I was on the field, but rest assured I’m fine. It’s an old injury that keeps flaring up, but I know how to deal with it.

“It’s just getting a little uncomfortable … in and around my cartilage, but it just looks worse than it is as I’m trying to get rid of it asap.”

English skipper Joe Root helped Stokes add more to the rest of the series and hoped the problem wouldn’t limit him.

“Of course he was shaking his knee a bit … so hopefully it’s just something he’s shaken off now and you can see him again with full intensity and it gives us all the options on the table,” said Root.

The second test in the five-game series begins on Thursday.