The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Injury scares hamper England preparation
CRICKET: Bowlers ruled out of opening two-day fixture of Ashes tour
Steven Finn and Moeen Ali will both miss England’s first Ashes warm-up match after injury scares.
Finn hurt his left knee when, after bowling in middle practice at Richardson Park, Perth, he hit himself while batting in the nets.
All-rounder Moeen, meanwhile, has been troubled by soreness in his left side.
Both will have scans today and are therefore no longer in contention for the two-day fixture against a Western Australia XI starting tomorrow at the WACA.
One man who will be in the thick of the action is Mark Stoneman, out to cement his position as Alastair Cook’s latest opening partner after making a largely favourable impression in three Tests against West Indies.
The 30-year-old has had to be patient for this opportunity of a lifetime – although the 2017/18 Ashes are far from a maiden trip to Australia for the lefthander, who started venturing down under to play Grade cricket in Sydney more than a decade ago.
On one of his earliest forays, he met his wife-to-be Serene. He recalls too a trip to the Sydney Test as England descended to a 5-0 series defeat 11 years ago, and has to pinch himself that these days his country’s fortunes will rest partially on his shoulders.
“It is quite surreal, because back in 2006/07 I was sat behind the bowler’s arm as Brett Lee was steaming in bowling to Andrew Flintoff,” said Stoneman.
“The Barmy Army were going mad in one corner, the ground was full and the atmosphere was unbelievable – so to have the potential to be playing in the same fixture is unreal.”
He is in pole position to do so and, although he has made a relatively modest 120 Test runs from five innings at an average of 30 so far, he is encouraged that he has felt at home at the highest level.
“Within myself I felt comfortable at the crease and in control out there with composure,” he said.
“I would have loved to score more runs, of course, and that is always the case, but I really enjoyed it, which I think is the key.”
Stoneman is the 12th man to try his hand at opening the innings with Cook since Andrew Strauss’s retirement in 2012, but he already has a good rapport with a partner who has turned out to be a little different to initial expectations.
“He’s quite funny actually,” added Stoneman.
“All the time that I only ever saw him on the telly, he just looked like a guy who was very calm and in control, but he’s actually a really funny guy and keeps things level out there.
“It has only been a short while, but I think he reads me quite well too from the other end as to whether he needs to give me a gee-up or make me crack a smile.”
England, with questions still to answer in several other positions and their injury doubts too, must hope the Cook-Stoneman axis provides the solidity lacking at the top for much of the past five years.