LAHORE — England suffered a major blow ahead of their must-win Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan when Brydon Carse was ruled out of the rest of the tournament with a toe injury.
The fast bowler, who has been struggling with the issue that required stitches earlier this month, missed training at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Monday two days after he was his team’s most expensive bowler during the defeat by Australia, taking 1 for 69 from seven overs.
He has been replaced in England’s squad by leg-spinner Rehan Ahmed.
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.
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 were taken out.
Questions will be asked of England’s medical team now it has been confirmed he will miss the rest of the tournament.
While the extent of his injury is unknown, The i Paper understands it is not looking good. It means he could also be struggling to fulfil his £100,000 deal with Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League that starts next month.
England have named Ahmed, who was on the recent tour of India, as a replacement. It is a wise choice given Adil Rashid is the only frontline slow bowler in the squad for this tournament.
For the here and now, Jamie Overton is likely to come into the XI for the match against Afghanistan that England must win if they are to maintain their hopes of reaching the semi-finals. Defeat would almost certainly eliminate them.
Joe Root, meanwhile, has 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 right and the country have disbanded their women’s team.
Almost 200 MPs signed a letter last month calling for the ECB to withdraw from the fixture but the game has got the go-ahead after the International Cricket Council (ICC) promised to help the exiled Afghan women’s cricketers in Australia play on the world stage again.
Root, who was a teammate 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 play our best cricket and find ourselves on the right side of the result.”
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