England are set to go into their second Test redemption mission without a crucial piece of their attack with Mark Wood ruled out due to soreness in the knee which kept him out of action for most of this year.
Wood was a notable absentee from their training session on Saturday and after going wicketless in the opening Test at Optus Stadium, he will miss the day-night Brisbane clash which gets underway on Thursday.
England are optimistic that he will not be ruled out for the rest of the series with the 35-year-old seen as a key part of their hopes of regaining the Ashes due to his ability to bowl at more than 150km/h.
Wood underwent surgery on his left knee earlier this year.
He had been under a fitness cloud going into the series opener after limping off during the practice match at Lilac Hill with a hamstring problem although scans cleared him of any damage.
Wood only bowled 11 overs in the Test in what was his first appearance for England in more than a year.
Josh Tongue is set to get a recall for Brisbane to join Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Carse to form another four-pronged pace attack with Ben Stokes adding further seam bowling as the all-rounder.
Tongue bowled 16 overs for the England Lions against the PM’s XI in Canberra on Saturady, finishing with 0-48.
England’s likely XI
Ben Stokes (c)
Zak Crawley
Ben Duckett
Ollie Pope
Joe Root
Harry Brook
Jamie Smith (wk)
Gus Atkinson
Brydon Carse
Jofra Archer
Josh Tongue
>Cricket News
%20(3).jpeg)
0 Comments