IND vs ENG | Sam Billings cleared of serious injury; ECB confirm batsman sprained his collar bone
The ECB have provided an update on Sam Billings’ injury and have confirmed that the batsman, unlike initially feared, did not damage his shoulder and only ended up spraining his collarbone. In 2019, a shoulder injury ruled Billings out of action for close to six months, ending his World Cup hopes.
In what comes as a huge relief for England, the ECB have confirmed that Sam Billings has been cleared of serious injury. In the final ball of the 33rd over of the Indian innings, Billings went down in pain near the deep square leg boundary after launching an unsuccessful attempt to stop a Shikhar Dhawan pull shot, and, immediately, everyone feared the past injury to resurface once again. The batsman looked like he was clutching his shoulders and thus there were fears that the 29-year-old might have re-injured his shoulder that he’d already damaged two years ago.
However, the ECB took to Twitter to confirm that the batsman only suffered a sprained collarbone, and added that they were hopeful of the right-hander being fit enough to come out to bat in the second innings, if required.
“Bilbo has sprained his collar bone joint but this is not related to his previous shoulder injury Folded hands. He’s receiving treatment and we are hopeful he will be able to bat later,” read a tweet from the ECB.
Billings scored a fifty in the last ODI he played against Australia at Old Trafford in September. The 29-year-old, who was purchased by Delhi Capitals in the IPL auction, was an unused substitute in the five-match T20I series, which England lost 3-2.