England will not be asking for immediate reinforcements ahead of next week’s Test series against India despite the 16-man touring squad being wrecked with injuries and illness.
Captain Michael Vaughan was given a cortisone injection to speed up the recovery of a recurring knee injury in time for the first of three back-to-back Tests starting in Nagpur on March 1.
Star batsman Kevin Pietersen is suffering from a back strain, fast bowler Simon Jones and off-spinner Shaun Udal are recovering from stomach bugs and all-rounder Paul Collingwood has been afflicted with a back spasm.
With just five days to go for the first Test, England are in danger of not being able to field 11 fit men, but coach Duncan Fletcher refused to panic.
”We can’t make a decision over replacements just yet, we have to give it some more time,” Fletcher said on Friday.
”Simon Jones could wake up and be fine in two days, while if the injection works, Vaughan could be alright by next week. We’ll just have to fiddle things about for the moment.”
Vaughan remains in serious doubt for the first Test, just as he was in Pakistan late last year when the knee injury flared up in a practice match at the start of the tour.
The England captain missed the one-dayers in Pakistan to have his third bout of surgery in six years on his right knee in December.
The 31-year-old was forced to sit out of the ongoing three-day match against the Indian Board President’s XI here and team doctor Peter Gregory hoped the cortisone injection would work wonders.
”It’s got to be a concern when your captain can’t play in the match before the first Test, but he has a chance for next week,” Gregory said.
”A jab normally starts to work after 48 hours, but you can’t expect the full effect for about two weeks.”
Pietersen (25) retired hurt for 47 after injuring his back on Thursday despite being strapped up on the field by team physiotherapist Kirk Russell.
”He just tweaked it and we took him off as a precautionary measure,” said Fletcher.
”I hope it gets better in the next couple of days. We wanted to make sure it didn’t get any worse before the first Test.”
England will play three Tests and seven one-day internationals during the two-month tour. – Sapa-AFP