Injured Morgan Replaced By Bopara In World Cup

Morgan missed the seventh and final one-day international against Australia with the injury he first noticed during the fourth game in Adelaide.
England coach Andy Flower said: "Eoin needs to be operated on. It's a serious loss but Ravi Bopara will join us."
Morgan's injury is the latest in a series of problems that have affected England's limited-overs squad.
The bowling division has been worst hit with Graeme Swann (knee/back), Tim Bresnan (calf), Ajmal Shahzad (hamstring), Chris Tremlett (side strain) and all-rounder Paul Collingwood (back) all having flown home early from the Australia tour.

 

However, apart from Bresnan all of those names are expected to be fit for the tournament, which starts on 19 February and will be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

 

England will open their World Cup campaign against Holland on 22 February without Morgan, who did not feel that the injury to his middle finger on his left hand was anything to worry about at first.
"He injured it in that Adelaide game and didn't think it was serious but it got worse the more he played and practised," added Flower.
"The pain grew worse and therefore the medical team got onto it."
The left-hander is generally regarded as one England's better limited-overs batsmen, however, he did not have the best one-day series in Australia, scoring only 106 runs in six innings, with a top score of 30 as England slumped to a 6-1 defeat.

The 24-year-old has played 61 ODIs, scoring 1,904 runs at an average of 38.08, and at an impressive strike-rate of 81.19, including four centuries.

But Flower insists England's World Cup chances have not been diminished by his withdrawal.

Bopara has been in the West Indies with the England Lions but will fly home to join the squad before they travel to sub-continent on 12 February.

The Essex all-rounder has made 54 ODI appearances for England, scoring 1,140 runs at 28.50 with a strike-rate of 73.45, although his top score is 60. With the ball, he has taken 10 wickets at a little over 33 apiece.

Strauss went on to admit that the injuries suffered by England had not helped during the one-day series against Australia.
"Having a settled bowling unit has been the basis of our ODI success over the last 18 months and we certainly missed having that in Australia," he stated.
"We believe that when they are all fit our bowling unit is a match for anyone in the world."

Posted in: England