England trio in doubt for Trophy opener

ENGLAND were last night facing an injury crisis at the worst possible time when three key players were ruled out of today’s final one-day international against South Africa with the Champions Trophy just four days away. Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes and Moeen Ali will all be missing at Lord’s for today’s Royal London dead rubber as England attempt to ensure they are instead available to face Bangladesh at The Oval on Thursday. England insist their actions are precautionary and that all three should be fine when their bid to finally win a global 50-over title begins later this

From Back Page week but it must be a concern that three important players are carrying knocks. They also said it was not a gamble to play Stokes in Saturday’s thrilling two-run victory at Southampton that sealed a series win for England but now he faces another scan on his sore left knee. And Woakes, who was rested on Saturday with what was described as a minor thigh injury, now faces a second match on the sidelines after spending six weeks with Kolkata in the Indian Premier League. The new worry is a groin issue for Moeen, who was man of the match in England’s opening victory against South Africa. In the absence of the trio, England have called up the Middlesex pair of Steven Finn and the uncapped Toby Roland-Jones and Hampshire’s left-arm spinner Liam Dawson rather than relying on Champions Trophy squad players. Dawson looks certain to play today with England then left with the choice of fielding Finn and Roland-Jones on their home ground or instead giving chances to the likes of David Willey and the extremely unlucky Jonny Bairstow. The biggest concern has to be Stokes, who showed how important he is to England with a century at the Ageas Bowl but was then forced to limp away to the outfield after bowling just three painful overs. Stokes remains convinced the problem is a minor one and unrelated to the cartilage injury suffered during the Headingley Test against Sri Lanka last year that forced him into another spell on the sidelines. ‘It is just in my delivery stride when I bowl,’ said Stokes. ‘It’s just a bit of a sensation running up the side of my knee. Batting, running around the field and everything like that is absolutely fine. We are managing it as well as we can and it’s an injury that sometimes just goes away. ‘I have good and bad days so I could wake up tomorrow and it will be completely gone. I will just have to monitor it over the next few days. We only really find out how it is when I start bowling.’ It was last night decided that there was no point in risking Stokes today, especially as the weather forecast for St John’s Wood is poor, but he will have another scan tomorrow on the knee that needed an operation last year.