England play down harm considerations as Adil Rashid, Mark Wood bide their time
England aren’t overly involved in regards to the health of two key bowlers forward of the World Cup, regardless of Adil Rashid and Mark Wood making a single look between them of their first three ODIs in opposition to New Zealand.
With the opening recreation of the World Cup – coincidentally, in opposition to the identical opponents – three weeks away, England are taking a precautionary method with each gamers within the information that they’re the 2 hardest bowlers to switch of their provisional 15-man squad.
Rashid took a wicket together with his first ball in the first ODI in Cardiff, beating Will Young on the skin edge to knock again his off stump, however left the sphere with cramp three overs into his spell. He returned to bowl an extra 5 overs, however has not featured since attributable to “tightness” in his calf.
Having opted out of the Hundred, Wood has not performed any aggressive cricket because the fifth Ashes Test at the end of July and has been working his manner again to match health over the previous week. He had a sore heel on the finish of the Ashes and has not been risked within the first three ODIs of the sequence.
“He’s a big asset for us going into the World Cup,” Chris Woakes stated after England’s victory within the third ODI. “You don’t want to risk him too soon. Bruised heels, I remember having mine: you think it’s going to be a week or two and in the end, they end up being quite long injuries that can always reoccur.”
Asked if Wood wanted to play on Friday to get some match follow earlier than the World Cup, Woakes stated: “A player with Mark’s experience can go straight in. He’s not the sort of guy who needs a load of game-time.
“Myself, I like video games underneath my belt to construct up confidence and rise up to hurry. Actually, Mark is without doubt one of the guys I’m very envious of, as a result of he can steam in and bowl at 93mph (150kph) as we noticed within the Ashes. I do not assume it is an excessive amount of of a fear if he does not play on this sequence however hopefully he performs the final one [at Lord’s on Friday].”
Woakes himself took 3 for 31 in a single eight-over spell to end Wednesday’s third ODI at The Oval as a contest, and said he was getting used to the rhythms of 50-over cricket again. “It was good to bowl an eight-over spell and choose up some necessary wickets,” he said.
Woakes was one of eight ever-presents in England’s 2019 World Cup triumph, and said he hopes to be able to feature in all nine of their group-stage games in India over the next two months. “You wish to preserve placing in performances like that to maintain getting the nod, selection-wise,” he stated.
“From a health perspective, these bilateral sequence are fairly tight and there is quite a lot of travelling. Although there’s quite a lot of journey on the World Cup, it appears to be like like there’s extra space between video games so it does offer you a bit extra of a routine to get better and are available again stronger and be match for the following recreation.”