Dawson injury opens the door to Denly
Joe Denly has been handed a chance to claim a World Cup place after England summoned him to replace the injured Liam Dawson, who will fly home with a side strain and is expected to be out of action for a month.
Denly had been due to arrive in Sri Lanka next week with the Test squad but has been called up early to replace the unlucky Dawson, who was picked to play in the first two one-day internationals.
Dawson felt the injury while bowling his second over in Saturday’s victory in Dambulla and then felt it go later in the day. He was assessed over the weekend and was told yesterday that his trip was over.
Denly has just had his best season in white-ball cricket for Kent with the most runs and wickets for the county as they reached the Royal London Cup final.
For Dawson the injury is a bad blow at a time when competition is high for a place in England’s ODI squad. There are only eight more games before the World Cup squad is named and Dawson had a good chance to ensure he was the backup to Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid.
Denly is unlikely to arrive in time to be in contention for tomorrow’s third ODI in Kandy, with Tom Curran or Sam Curran likely to take Dawson’s place.
The rain has been the most frustrating aspect of this trip for England so far but the discovery of a small cobra behind the pavilion in Kandy yesterday, while they were in the nets, was a reminder that much more dangerous perils lurk in this part of the world.
The ground staff cornered the snake and, using two long plastic pipes, managed to pick it up and drop it in a white sack. What happened to the snake is unknown.