The England camp faces a nervy wait as speedster Mark Wood was sent for scans on his hamstring after bowling on the opening day of their warm up against the England Lions in Perth.
Wood, who has not played a competitive fixture since February due to persistent injury problems, bowled eight wicketless overs at Lilac Hill before leaving the field after experiencing some stiffness in his hamstring.
The concern for the England bowling comes only a day after Josh Hazlewood sent a scare through Australia when he went for scans on hamstring as did fellow squad member Sean Abbott during New South Wales’ Sheffield Shield loss to Victoria at the SCG.
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Hazlewood was cleared to resume his preparations for the first Test, starting next Friday, while Abbott was ruled out with “moderate grade hamstring injury”.
Wood’s fate remains unclear, with the English hierarchy surely crossing their fingers that the 35-year-old will be cleared of any significant injury like Hazlewood.
The England Cricket Board’s official statement said that is just a precautionary scan with Wood “expected to bowl again in two days time”.
England skipper Ben Stokes has been the pick of the five-man pace attack the tourists selected for the warm up game.
Stokes captured four of the first five wickets to fall, including highly talented youngster Jacob Bethell, and they all came via mistimed pull shots from the Lions’ batters.
The pitch at Lilac Hill is reportedly on the slower and lower side compared to what England are set to be greeted with at Optus Stadium in eight days time, but Stokes still managed to attract some life out of it.
Josh Tongue was the only other wicket-taker as the Lions reached 5/250 after 60 overs with 21-year-old opener Ben McKinney top-scoring with 67.
Jofra Archer and Gus Atkinson took the new ball for England, while Joe Root is operating as the sole spinner.
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