LAHORE — Brydon Carse is set to miss England’s must-win Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan on Wednesday and is also a doubt for the rest of the tournament.
The fast bowler, who has been struggling with a toe injury that required stitches last week, missed training at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Monday two days after he was his team’s most expensive bowler during the opening defeat by Australia, taking one for 69 from his seven overs.
Carse has had a largely positive winter since making his Test debut in Pakistan in October but has struggled in recent weeks with blisters on the big toe of his left foot, where he lands at the end of his delivery stride.
He was ruled out of the last two ODIs against India earlier this month when a blister burst but was passed fit to play in the opening Champions Trophy match last weekend just days after stitches to the toe.
Now, with the tournament so condensed – England’s final group match against South Africa is on Saturday – Carse is now doubtful for the rest of this campaign.
While the extent of his injury is unknown, Carse might also be struggling to play in the Indian Premier League that starts next month after he signed a £100,000 deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad.
If Carse was to be ruled out in the coming days, England would be able to bring another player into their squad. Leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed, who was on the recent tour of India, is at the head of the queue of potential replacements given Adil Rashid is the only frontline slow bowler in the squad in Pakistan.
For the here and now, Jamie Overton is likely to come into XI for the match against Afghanistan. It’s a contest England must win if they are to maintain hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Defeat would almost certainly eliminate them.
Asked about Carse’s injury, Joe Root said: “We will have to wait and see. There is still a good way out from the game to find exactly what is up with Carsey. We will see how things pan out over the next few days.”
Root also addressed the political pressure put on the England & Wales Cricket Board to boycott this match given the fact the Taliban regime in Afghanistan has eroded women’s rights in the country and disbanded the women’s team.
Almost 200 MPs signed a letter last month calling for the ECB to withdraw from the fixture but they ignored those calls after the International Cricket Council promised to help the exiled Afghan women’s cricketers in Australia play on the world stage again.
Root, a team-mate of Mujeeb Ur Rahman at Paarl Royals in the SA20 last month, said: “I haven’t talked to any of their players about it. Keysy [England director of cricket Rob Key], the board and Jos all spoke with experts on the ground and I don’t see that boycotting this game is going to make any sort of positive impact. Clearly there’s things over there that are hard to hear and read up on but cricket is such a source of joy for so many people.
“For a number of people within Afghanistan, I think it’s an opportunity to celebrate – cricket gives them hope, gives them joy. Hopefully the two teams can do that in this next fixture.”
Asked if it was difficult for players to be caught in the cross-hairs of geopolitics, Root added: “That’s a job for the experts, the higher-ups and probably the ICC to address. From our point of view, we’re playing the game and we’ve got to make sure that we put our best foot forward, we play our best cricket and find ourselves on the right side of the result.”
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