Captain Morgan rules himself out of England’s final two one-dayers in India due to hand injury

England captain Eoin Morgan will miss the final two matches of the one-day internationals series against India due to injury, with Sam Billings also ruled out of today’s game.

Morgan split the webbing between the thumb and index finger of his right hand in the first ODI in Pune and declared himself unfit after taking part in a fielding drill yesterday.

Billings sprained his collar bone joint in the same match but has been given a chance of playing in Sunday's concluding fixture.

Their absence means Liam Livingstone should make his first appearance in almost four years, while Dawid Malan has been promoted from the standby list and should also feature in a side captained by Jos Buttler.

Morgan said: “I had the hand re-dressed before the start of training today but it quickly became apparent that I found myself protecting the injury and getting into the wrong positions to catch the ball.

“There’s nowhere to hide on the field in international cricket these days, especially in limited-over formats so it didn’t require any great thought to make myself unavailable. It was a freak injury and it’s extremely frustrating but there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s now just a case of letting the cut heal. I have every confidence in Jos and the rest of the squad coping without me.”

Ben Stokes is hoping to help England get back to winning ways after finally making his long-awaited return to oneday cricket – a “crazy” 618 days after his unforgettable performance in the World Cup final.

Tuesday’s 66-run defeat to India was Stokes’ first 50-over appearance since his inspirational performance made England world champions at Lord’s in July 2019 – with rest periods of bio-security measures keeping him out of action in the interim. And while the result was hardly what he would have wanted, the allrounder was simply glad to be back in the saddle. Stokes said: “It’s crazy to think it was my first game since the World Cup final. It’s great to get back out there and play some oneday cricket.

“Itwasgreattobebackonthe field. It’s amazing how quickly time can pass but it was great to be out with the rest of the boys. I can’t remember (50over cricket) taking that long but it might have been to do with the heat and the body was a bit stiff the next day.”