Broad ankle scare adds to England bowling troubles

Stuart Broad has added to England’s bowling injury problems after complaining of soreness in his left ankle while bowling for Nottinghamshire in their championship match against Worcestershire.

Broad had a scan yesterday and will know the results over the weekend as England contemplate how to manage their fast bowlers with a gruelling five-test series against India starting on Aug 1.

James Anderson was given a sixweek break by the England management to rest a chronic shoulder injury in order to be fit for the India series, and Broad will also now be given time off. Anderson is hoping to be fit for the Roses match starting on July 22, but Broad may now not play again until the first Test.

England will have to rotate their bowlers during the India series, which has been packed into August and the first 11 days of September so that India can play in the Asia Cup, which starts two days after the fifth Test at the Oval.

Broad has had left-ankle problems before and the joint swelled up after he bowled 22 overs in the game against Worcestershire, his first match since the second Test against Pakistan at the start of June.

With Broad and Anderson, who described the India schedule as “ridiculous”, it is about managing their diaries and ensuring they are at their peak for the start of a series.

Both managed to play all five Ashes Tests in the winter but were exhausted by the time the fifth Test started in Sydney. It should be easier to rotate them in a home series and England are desperate for backup bowlers to start performing and provide competition for places.

“Stuart’s sore ankle has been ongoing and it was stirred up a little bit when he landed in the footholds, so it made sense for him to come off the field,” said Peter Moores, Nottinghamshire’s head coach. “It is manageable, but he has a lot of cricket to play.”

Broad will be fit for the first Test but England are carrying a lot of injuries. Ben Stokes will return this week from a torn hamstring, when he makes a rare appearance for Durham in the Vitality Blast Twenty20 against Yorkshire on Thursday. He will play as a batsman only but England named him in their squad yesterday for the threematch one-day series with India, and he is expected to be back bowling by then.

Chris Woakes, another firstchoice seamer, is injured and no date has been put on his return as he recovers from a torn thigh and an injection to ease tendonitis in his right knee. “It [the India schedule] is chaos. I am sure rotation will come into it. It will be difficult to keep the same three or four bowlers during the series,” Woakes said. England squad for ODI series v India