Adelaide, Nov 10: Hours before they step into the Adelaide Oval here for a semifinal clash against a strong Indian side in the Men’s T20 World Cup, England suffered a setback with pacer Mark Wood unable to recover from an injury and set to miss the match on Thursday.
Wood and batter Dawid Malan have been struggling for the last couple of days to get fit for the crucial knockout encounter with India and though Malan looks likely to step into the field for the semifinal, Wood may miss the bus.
The pacer has been battling stiffness ahead of Thursday’s clash, his body was not helped much by the heavy workload during his 2022 campaign already been hindered by injury.
Malan is the top scorer for England in the men’s T20 World Cup so far, having scored 242 runs in eight innings, second only to Virat Kohli in the tournament’s top batters’ list. Mark Wood has claimed nine wickets in four matches in the T20 World Cup so far.
Malan suffered a groin issue in England’s win over Sri Lanka last week and thankfully wasn’t required in the run chase that secured their spot in the knockout stages.
The England team management had decided to give them time till the last-minute possible to get them ready for the match.
Skipper Jos Buttler had on Wednesday said that the team’s medical staff are giving the duo all the time to get ready for the must-win clash at Adelaide Oval.
“We will try and give them as long as possible,” Buttler was quoted as saying by the Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency. “Obviously Dawid left the field the other day with a small niggle and Woody has had a bit of stiffness. But we will trust the medical team, we will trust those two guys as well.
“In all sports now, players don’t always play at 100 percent but of course, you have to be able to fulfil your role in the team. So we will give that as long as we can with those guys and, as always, we have 15 guys preparing to play,” Buttler said on the eve of the match.
A final call on Malan’s participation will be taken closer to the toss after a fitness test on the ground.
Chris Jordan, Tymal Mills, David Willey and Phil Salt are the four squad members available for selection. They were not named for the win over Sri Lanka.
IANS