IND vs ENG | Zak Crawley ruled out of first two Tests with wrist injury

One day after receiving a major boost in the form of Ollie Pope returning, England have been struck with bad news as Kent’s Zak Crawley will miss the first two Tests versus India owing to injury. Crawley, who opened the batting versus Sri Lanka and was set to bat at No.3 against India, slipped and fell on a marble floor on Wednesday, after which he did not train and awaited scan results to understand the extent of the injury. The scan results came out today and the ECB confirmed that the 23-year-old has jarred his wrist and will miss the first two Tests of the series.

“Following the results of last night’s scan, England top-order batsman Zak Crawley has been ruled out of the first two Tests of the India versus England series,” read an ECB statement.

“Scan results have confirmed that Crawley has jarred his right wrist, which has sprained the joint and led to local inflammation.

“The Kent player sustained the injury during England’s practice in Chennai on Tuesday when he slipped on the marble floor leaving the dressing rooms onto the field of play.”

The injury to Crawley is a telling blow as the ECB have, in fact, already sent Jonny Bairstow home as a part of their ‘rest and rotate’ policy. Crawley could yet recover in time for the last two Tests, however, as the board confirmed that the youngster’s progress will be assessed over the next couple of weeks.

“The England medical team will continue to assess his progress over the next few weeks.”